Sportsnob – Critics Corner

Following Rajasthan as runners up in the previous edition are Chennai Super Kings. There wasn’t a lot of noise made about this team but they were the ones who functioned best as a unit.

Team: Chennai Superkings

Captain: MS Dhoni

Coach: Stephen Fleming

Trump Card: MS Dhoni

X-Factor: Matthew Hayden

Whats changed from last season: Mike Hussey and Jacob Oram won’t be around this time. Andrew Flintoff joins the team as one of the most expensive players in the league. Changes in the coaching set up with Stephen Fleming replacing Keppler Wessels as head coach and Venkatesh Prasad drafted in as the bowling coach.

Of all the franchisee owners in the Indian Premier League, India Cements can probably lay claim to being the only true patrons of the sport before the IPL. For years, the company has been supporting cricket in local leagues in Chennai and when the opportunity came to buy a Chennai based team, it was only natural that the company stepped up. Of all the teams in the league, Chennai probably remains the most stable – devoid of controversy and interference from celebrities or by the owners. The team’s first signing – MS Dhoni remains the fulcrum around which the team revolves, and there are some solid Indian youngsters and foreign players to make up a good team. What resulted in the first season, was a run to the final sealed by a spectacular thrashing of Punjab in the semifinals. The team went on to lose the final to Rajasthan Royals but not before giving the Royals a tough fight. Much will be expected from this team in the second version of the IPL which starts on the 18th. 

The batting:

The X-factor could well be Matthew Hayden, the burly Aussie legend retired early this year and it will be interesting to see whether his mind is still in it. Having players who continue to play after they retire is tricky; it could go either way – fail like Brian Lara in the ICL or succeed like McGrath for the Delhi Daredevils. The good thing is that Hayden will be available for the whole tournament and if he does come off, he has the potential to be devastating. Opening with him will be Murali Vijay, who in addition to facing up to the Aussies in his first international outing, has had a fantastic year in the domestic circuit. Suresh Raina has made that third spot his own and in all probability will be followed by Dhoni at four and Badrinath at five. The other two slots could be a toss up between men like Andrew Flintoff, Albie Morkel, Abhinav Mukund and George Bailey. Flintoff will not be available for the whole tournament and Morkel’s successes against Australia will mean that there will be a lot riding on his performances. George Bailey is a virtual unknown to Indian fans and Mukund, like Vijay had a good domestic season.

 The bowling: 

The bowling has two very important changes from last year – one, the introduction of Venkatesh Prasad as the bowling coach and second, the added variety with players such as Andrew Flintoff,  off-spinner R. Ashwin and Thilan Thushara. The signing of Prasad could well be a masterstroke by the Superkings as he will guide bowlers like Manpreet Gony, Joginder Sharma, Thushara and of course L. Balaji. Further, the Superkings bowling line up looked one-dimensional last year and the added variety could make a difference. Flintoff’s bowling is tailor made for the 20-20 format, Ashwin (similar to Yohan Botha) is a difficult bowler to get away and of course Thushara’s left arm seamers will add variety.

Add to this, proven performers from last season such as Ntini, Morkel, Balaji and Gony – you have the makings of a very solid bowling line up. Plus, Ntini and Morkel will have home advantage and will be available for the whole tournament. It will be interesting to see if Joginder Sharma and Amarnath get many opportunities in this line up.   

Looking at the squad as a whole, one gets the feeling that there are better bowling and batting departments in other teams but where Chennai scores is the fact that the franchise comes together as one team, something that Bangalore and Hyderabad failed to do last year. Similar to Rajasthan and Mumbai – there will always be only one captain and he will get to make the decisions on the field. Stephen Fleming will be another shrewd addition to the coaching lineup and should work well with Dhoni considering they had played together last season. Barring, a big change in script- the Superkings should definitely find themselves in the semifinals and from there on its anyone’s game. 

The full teamThe Indians: MS Dhoni, P. Amarnath, Anirudh Shrikanth, S. Badrinath, S. Raina, Murali Vijay, L Balaji, R Ashwin, V. Sivaramakrishnan, Abhinav Mukund, Parthiv Patel, Manpreet Gony, Suresh Kumar, Arun Karthik, Sudeep Tyagi and Joginder Sharma

The unknowns: George Bailey, Napoleon Einstein, Shadab Jakati, Viraj Kadbe

The foreigners: Makhaya Ntini, Albie Morkel (South Africa), Muttiah Muralitharan, Thilan Thushara (Sri Lanka), Andrew Flintoff (England) 

Image Courtesy: Sify