If one asks about the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) team in general, it would be no wonder if people respond dramatically, “It all began in the year 2008…”. Such has been the fairy tale of the Champion of Champions – The Chennai Super Kings franchise of the Indian Premiere League (IPL).
During the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008, Chennai raised their expectations after winning straight four out of four matches. When they started losing, the expectations fell but their earlier wins made sure they had to win only few of the remaining matches to secure a berth in the semi-final. But it was never easy for them as the other teams were equally competitive and posed a threat to Chennai’s dream. But Chennai Super Kings already had a lion in their team in the form of MS Dhoni, the captain of Indian national team. When he was there, he assured a place in the semi-finals. Chennai’s dream of winning the IPL failed that year when they lost the IPL finals to Rajasthan Royals in Mumbai stadium where it looked as if the entire stadium is favoring the Rajasthan Royals. Any captain would agree at the end of the day, “The better team won”. Yes, T20 cricket can be cunning. It could raise your temptations in a cricket ball and then burn it down to earth at the very next ball. The inaugural edition of the Champions League in the year 2008, a tournament comprising the best T20 club teams of their national side, did not happen because of security issues and thus Chennai, which was one among the selected teams, did not play in that league.
In IPL 2009, a fresh war happened in South Africa far away from its birth place. Initially, the crowd paid a visit to their matches to see what the excitement is all about but then the IPL fever got over every one in the cities. In Durban, it was claimed that most of the audience are Chennai Super Kings supporters. The King of Chennai MS Dhoni led from the front and took the team to a higher level winning matches again. Chennai’s batting was destructive in its own way – with the likes of former Australian opener Matthew Hayden and Indian specialist batsman Suresh Raina. If they had not delivered with the bat, MS Dhoni himself came to the crease to give the proceedings to a total above par. In fact, Chennai registered the highest ever total by an IPL team even in its very first match in the inaugural edition. If winning gave credits to the team batting, the losing exposed the team’s poor bowling performance. Even though Chennai had the spinning wizard – the 800 test wicket taker Mutthiah Muralitharan, they still lacked a fast bowler who could threaten the opposition right from the front. But then, they went for one of the best all-rounders of all time – England’s Andrew Flintoff.
Chennai was still giving the opening spell to South African all-rounder Albie Morkel, a task that he is not accustomed to doing even in his home pitch. Chennai did have home players coming for their aide but they didn’t last more than the week. Manpreet Singh Goni, who had a dream come true inaugural tournament, struggled with his bowling during the second edition. Joginder Sharma, considered to the man with the golden arm, added every match to his misery with his conventional bowling style not suiting the T20 format. Lakshmipathy Balaji, the experienced medium pacer from Tamil Nadu, was not getting the rhythm right after recovering from a very long injury. Sudeep Tyagi occasionally bowled well but was not exceptional. Shadab Jakati proved to be a useful spin combination along with Muralitharan. Flintoff was expected to fire with his bat and also bowl fiery spells but none of them happened. The costliest player of the IPL failed to deliver and it all ended when he had to leave the IPL due to a knee injury that also made him to retire this month. Chennai had tried all bowling combinations and none of them worked well for them. Then MS Dhoni admitted that his team’s bowling is very poor and then decided to concentrate on the team’s strength – the batting.
Matthew Hayden was in the best of form that year smashing every ball for sixes and fours. Occasionally Parthiv Patel was a good companion to Hayden hitting the balls for boundaries when he had his chance. The middle order lineup of Suresh Raina – the rigorous hitter of the ball, MS Dhoni – the team captain, a blaster himself, Subramaniam Badrinath – the consolidator, Albie Morkel – the T20 specialist as a finisher; everyone had a tale for themselves, each contributing in their own way. They had good replacements as well in the form of Jacob Oram who played in most of the matches, George Bailey – the Tasmanian hitter.
That is where MS Dhoni’s role came into play. He knew his team’s batting strength and capitalized on it. The team’s batting won several matches for them with also a little contribution from the bowlers as well – not to forget Mutthiah’s four overs of hell for the batsman. However, the bowling always depended on the batsmen to deliver. Though MS Dhoni took the team to the semi-finals yet again, the blunders he made during that match cost him the entry into the finals as well as the Champions League of that tournament. Several blunders were made. You can read my version of the tale here. Though unintentional, it proved to be an exit for the team. Chennai’s bowling woes were clearly visible and Dhoni and the selectors had to pick a quickie for the next year. It was left to the confusion and a wait that followed that IPL.
… to be continued
