Another "come from defeat" victory for CSK! I was not as happy with this one as I was with the first one. This one, they took it too easy and such an attitude has started to get onto the nerves. I know they back themselves to chase down 20+ runs or even more an over when they get to the last 3-4 overs but there will be quite a few days when the bowler gets it right and hurts CSK at a tournament defining moment. Also their fielding today was poorer than last game, with too many misfields and sluggish chases on the ball, etc.
Lucky for us that we are 2 wins out of two, but we need to ramp up our game as quickly as possible. Hoping for David Willey to add a new dimension to the game. Also waiting with fingers crossed on Suresh Raina's fitness update. Its absurd that fit guys like Raina easily get calf strains mid game.
Watson and Rayudu gave us a superb start! Honestly I was surprised when people talked negatively about Rayudu opening in the last game against MI. He was positive in that game and scored a free flowing 20 odd. Even today, he was very positive and took huge toll of Piyush Chawla in the Powerplay. I think he and Watson combine really well at the top and might not need changing. Billings was fantastic and justified all the hype on him. To come out on debut for CSK and bat like that to win the game, is very special. If Billings can bat like this, we might get David Willey in for Tahir and play Watson/Billings/Bravo/Willey. Will be one hell of a XI when it happens.
Why are the stands empty .. Looks like an eyesore for such a big tournament
It has been a painstaking thing for years now. TNCA built those stands without prior approval of the Chennai Corporation. However the Chennai Corporation have deemed those stands illegal due to safety reasons (too much cramping of spectators, obstructing flow of air into the stadium thereby causing health concerns, etc.). TNCA has been trying to get this resolved for years now but neither Chennai Corporation budges (i.e. approves those stands for public use) nor the TNCA budges (i.e. raze down those stands and rebuild them according to safety norms or leave them open).
Have noticed one thing with CSK this year compared to the past - a lack of local presence. This is one thing they used to do really well in the past, they always had a tangible local presence in the squad. Genuinely don't understand why they didn't go for Karthik, Ashwin or Washington given some of the players they have.
Quite a few CSK fans like me lamented about the lack of local presence. We have picked only two guys from Chennai (Murali Vijay and Narayanan Jagadeesan). Out of which one guy is a complete unknown (Jagadeesan has played 9 FC games and 13 T20 domestic games). And Murali Vijay is not the same Vijay that succeeded few years back for CSK in the IPL. His hitting prowess is on the wane. Considering that Chennai had 6.5 crores left at the end of the auction, could have gone harder on Ashwin or Sundar or Karthik. What's more astonishing is that along with Fleming, they also had L Balaji (a Chennai player; current CSK bowling coach) at the auction.
