Kolkata: It’s been one of those mystifying seasons where Chennai Super Kings started off looking dangerously outdated but ended with a promising future. Eight defeats in the first 10 matches of the league phase had severely dented CSK’s playoffs chances before the ignominy was completed in the form of a last-spot finish. Yet there is hope.
In Urvil Patel, Ayush Mhatre and Dewald Brevis, CSK have unearthed batting chutzpah they have been lacking for some time now. Season over, the onus is on CSK to not let go of this exciting batting core.
None of them were in the original roster, which wasn’t bad to begin with. Rachin Ravindra’s international form was too good to be ignored, and it was only prudent that CSK tried to temper his edge with the calm assurance of Devon Conway.
That didn’t work out well. Ruturaj Gaikwad could have been a differentiating factor but an elbow injury cut short his stint. Shivam Dube had made his name as a middle-overs enforcer but too often was he forced to play as an anchor. Till Mhatre, Patel and Brevis were signed on, and CSK’s batting got an instant makeover.
Young and fearless, the trio injected much needed bravado into CSK’s batting. Between Mhatre and Brevis, 465 runs were scored at a strike rate of nearly 185. In just three matches, Patel has zoomed to a strike rate of 212.5. Twice in their last two matches has CSK passed 200, and on Sunday they had scored their highest total and their biggest win of the season, beating Gujarat Titans by 83. None of that would have happened without these three.
“I was more worried about the batting department; at the end of the day, you have to score runs,” said MS Dhoni after the match. “But now, looking at how everybody is contributing, we look like a side who can put runs on the board, and the maneuvering with the bowlers becomes slightly easy. Yes, there are still a few holes that we would like to fill. But one of the most important things was when Rutu (Gaikwad) comes back next season, at least we are able to give him a team where he just needs to fit in maybe one in the playing XI and he doesn’t have to worry about too many things.”
Dhoni, however, remains the biggest elephant in the room. He will be almost 45 when the next IPL comes around, but there is still no clarity on his role next year. “It depends. Again, I would say the same thing: I have four-five months to decide, there’s no hurry to decide what needs to be done,” Dhoni said.
“Every year, it’s 15% more effort to keep the body fit – not to forget this is top-level cricket. It’s professional cricket—you have to be at your best—and it’s not always performance that you can count, because if cricketers start retiring because of performance then a few of them will retire when they’re 22.”
To think that the captaincy keeps circling back to Dhoni says something about CSK are placed leadership wise. Not to mention, this is a franchise where Dhoni’s word is gospel. He is still agile behind the wickets, and no one is a better reader of the game in this format.
The strike rate (135.17) isn’t bad for someone who bats around 10-15 balls per game and is often found out against spinners. The team is trying to time his entry as batter, but for how long is a question worth asking. Invaluable however is the team-builder aspect in him that can hone new talent like Patel, Mhatre and Anshul Kamboj.
And there is no denying that much is left to build of the core that can satisfy Dhoni to the extent that he can call time on his career. Till then, we can continue asking, and he can keep us guessing.
