Top News

The five-time Indian Premier League (IPL) winners, Chennai Super Kings, surrendered themselves in front of the Rajasthan Royals and suffered an 8-wicket defeat in their season opener. While other teams are showcasing their batting prowess and utilising their impact player, CSK were bowled out on a mere score of 127 runs in 19.4 overs. Jamie Overton was their top batter, scoring an unbeaten 43 off 36 balls. The Rajasthan Royals chased it down in just 12.1 overs.

The real question is how CSK fumbled this game. The situation got worse when CSK was dealt the news that their star batter Dewald Brevis was ruled out of the season opener due to an injury, and his return date is still to be confirmed. Despite having top-experienced players in their lineup, all flopped on their given day and couldn’t save CSK from a batting collapse. While this edition has been favouring batters, the CSK needs to quickly improve their errors to bounce back on the track ahead of their high-voltage clash against the Punjab Kings. 

Also Read: 'Whatever the BCCI is offering you, we’ll double it': Inside CSK’s Unique Player Motivation Strategy

CSK skipper, Ruturaj Gaikwad, was touch and go in the season opener, where he scored 6 runs off 11 deliveries. Those 11 deliveries had a lot of impact on CSK’s innings. Moreover, Sanju Samson also scored 6 runs off 7 deliveries, which means these two openers combined scored 12 runs off 18 deliveries, meaning these two ate up half of the batting powerplay. Only if these two had optimised it well, the results could have gone in CSK’s favour. Considering these two played out last time, they will need to bring a fresh and aggressive approach to their batting for the next game against the Punjab Kings. Ayush Mhatre, who had a brilliant IPL campaign last season, came to bat at number three, which resulted in a zero-ball duck. If CSK is ready to rectify their mistakes, they can send Ruturaj to number three and bring Mhatre back to his opening spot. The opening pair of Samson-Mhatre will create mayhem if these two click at the right time. 

With the absence of MS Dhoni, it really looked tough for Ruturaj when utilising their pacers, especially during the power play. The former champions went with three main pacers: Matt Henry, Khaleel Ahmed, and Anshul Kamboj in their season opener against the Rajasthan Royals. But was that a good move? Henry went for 40 runs in his three-over spell, while Khaleel went for 17 in his three, and Kamboj was the only successful bowler, taking two wickets for 27 runs in his three overs. 

Henry, who has been known for providing breakthroughs in the power play, looked dull, while the other two were not at their best. Undoubtedly, Henry is one of the best bowlers in modern-day white-ball cricket, but CSK has Spencer Johnson and Zak Foulkes, who are best in their own terms. If somehow Henry doesn’t give the expected performance, it’s better to move on from him and allow other bowlers to take command on the new ball in the powerplay. Anshul Kamboj has been lethal with the ball if utilised well. CSK will need to find a way to give him some more chances in the second match. Jamie Overton, who has been a pacer, needs to step up when the team requires more of him. He is someone who can fetch you good wickets, if not wickets, then he can at least provide some momentum and stop the run flow.