IPL 2023 | Chennai Super Kings - Breaking sweat to bounce back from bottom

The ‘Dad’s Army’ was heading into the tournament with a champions tag as they had won the previous season. Even before the commencement of the competition, they handed over the leadership duties to Ravindra Jadeja substituting MS Dhoni in the role but that was the start of their debacle. In his eight games as a man in charge, CSK managed to win only two games. MS Dhoni was back at the helm after a poor start but he was also unable to revive the franchise and they finished at the penultimate position in the points table with just four wins from 14 games. 

The captaincy decision went wrong but it wasn't the sole reason for the end product. A combination of lackluster individual performances, especially from batters and injuries to key players like Deepak Chahar ahead of the tournament aggravated the crisis further and the sinking ship never survived drowning in the deep waters. 

There are only a few things that worked for the franchise, and nothing would be more appropriate to back the statement than their position in the points table. However, every cloud has a silver lining and their few positives were with the ball which included some average performances. Mukesh Chowdhary and Maheesh Theekshana turned out to be the superheroes for a side who were struggling on all fronts. In fact, the former turned out to be an emerging star picking the highest number of wickets for the team with 16 dismissals from 13 matches with an average of 26.5 and a strike rate of 17. Deepak Chahar was missing the tournament and the Indian youngster did well to bolster the bowling unit to some extent in his absence. 

Theekshana was another star who shined with the ball picking 12 wickets from nine games with a brilliant bowling average of 21.75 and a strike rate of 17.5. He bowled his overs majorly in the middle phase of the innings with an economy of 7.45. Moeen Ali also rolled his arm with an economy of 6.62 from 10 innings and the performance from both of them made CSK the fourth-best side in terms of conceding runs in the overs between 7 and 15. They leaked only 69 runs in the mentioned period placing themselves behind LSG, RCB, and KKR. Also, the team’s death specialist Dwayne Bravo was brilliant with his variations yet again taking 16 wickets from 10 innings and registering both the average and strike rate below 20 in aggregate. As Bravo has retired, the team will now have to hand over the responsibility of restricting opposition batters at the back end to someone else. 

The overall failure of producing a mesmerising performance from the batting unit translated into the team scoring fourth least total on average throughout the tournament. Apart from Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja’s batting performance was also dismal and that resulted in CSK scoring the fourth lowest average total throughout the season between overs 7 and 15. The Saurashtra all-rounder managed to gather just 116 runs from 10 innings with a disappointing strike rate of 118.36. Shivam Dube was the explosive batter for the team with a strike rate of 156.21 and he tried to accelerate the innings at the back end on a few occasions but the lack of explosion from the other end made CSK placed seventh on the list of teams who have scored most runs in the slog overs. MS Dhoni struck at a strike rate of 123.4 which was pretty ordinary for a lower order batter and a player who was known to be the best finisher in the world of cricket at one point in time. 

An injury to Deepak Chahar was a big blow for CSK and that impacted their bowling in powerplay overs. While Mukesh Choudhary displayed his talent from one end, there was no other bowler to wreak havoc with the new ball. As a result, the team conceded 48 runs on average in the powerplay which is the third highest amongst all 10 teams. Dwayne Bravo was prolific for CSK but there was no other death specialist who would partner with him. Owing to the lack of a bowler who will take wickets at the death, CSK were at the penultimate position in the list of teams who have taken the most wickets in the slog overs. Summing up the report card of the bowling unit, the side with the least wickets taken in the tournament will have a lot of work to do ahead of the start of the competition. 

With the retirement of Bravo, Dhoni’s brigade lacks a death-over specialist and they have tried to address that problem with the addition of Ben Stokes to some extent. However, a more solid option with the ball was needed for the back end and so the paddle was raised by the franchise during the bidding process till they acquired Kyle Jamieson’s services. However, the New Zealand pacer was injured ahead of the competition and so they named Sisanda Magala as his replacement. The South African bowler has showcased his ability to hit tight spots in the death overs in SA20 and so the team might rely on him in some fixtures to provide a finish with the ball in hand. 

IPL 2023 will also add a new dynamic to the tournament with the introduction of the impact player. The freedom to use one extra player within the game opens up numerous possibilities for franchises and they can enter the arena with several permutations and combinations. However, the limitations of using only four overseas players despite impact player rule might become a headache for CSK in team selection. They have three all-rounders Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, and Dwaine Pretorious who are going to play a vital role in both innings. Devon Conway was an outstanding opener for the team last season and so leaving him out also becomes a tough choice. Then there is Magala who can cover death bowling for them where the team lack the most. 

Tournament Prediction