Indian Premier League - General Discussion

[wasteyouryouth]

Teams need to stop fearing CSK and start going after them. This team is far from the champions of two years ago and even the runners-up last year.

A top six (if Rayudu was in instead of Gaikwad and Dhoni wasn't hiding down at 7) at an average age of 36.6 doesn't really help. Need some youthful energy. Faf still looks like he has it, but Watson and Vijay look like the game has passed them by.

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Delhi have bowled very well.

 

[Yash.]

The CSK batting lineup is a joke. Won’t be surprised if they end in the last 3 this time.

 

[SaiSrini]

HORRIBLE!!! I wonder how the F hell does Kedar Jadhav get so much backing despite never having shown the required intent for the T20 format. And yes - Murali Vijay should be nowhere near this side. Finally CSK's age starting to catch up with them. Which is happening 2 years late. A playoff spot will be a miraculous pull off (yes I say this even though we are just 3 games into the tournament of 14 league games). Our batting is just in all sorts of a mess with players batting after having not played a competitive match for 437 days

Well.... been an absolutely heart wrenching day (one of my all time favorite singers left this world, and now CSK are at this rut). I will talk some other day!

 

[Neo 7]

Won’t be surprised if they end in the last 3 this time.

Good now ...

I really get bored and that's why do not watch their batting (+ they have no active batsman currently whom I can especially watch ) ........ :/

 

[LiveLoveABD]

CSK are missing Raina a lot. Rayudu and Bravo need to come back!

 

[Bevab]

CSK are missing Raina a lot. Rayudu and Bravo need to come back!

They are missing Rayudu (the 2018 version that we saw in the first game to be exact), not Raina at all. There is a perception that Raina has been useful when for the most part he has been average at best for the last two seasons, especially for a senior batsman and the money he earns.

 

[Bevab]

A top six (if Rayudu was in instead of Gaikwad and Dhoni wasn't hiding down at 7) at an average age of 36.6 doesn't really help. Need some youthful energy. Faf still looks like he has it, but Watson and Vijay look like the game has passed them by.

This was very obvious right when they picked the team two years ago which is why I've been crying out loud for Gaikwad to have been integrated into the team last season when no one else apart from Dhoni and Faf to an extent were consistent. Had he played last season instead of Vijay (who offered nothing useful last season either) we could have had a fairly confident young opener this season. Instead he has been very clearly inserted as a last gasp measure after recovering from a disease currently tormenting the world. This is a bloke who plays for a rather weak Maharashtra side and still has very good numbers in white ball cricket, it is shocking that he has been handled in this manner (to make an unfair comparison, Sanju Samson the media darling is worse than him statistically).

Watson genuinely looked past it for the last season too before coming to life in the knockout stages, I wouldn't have expected him to play that many games if the team was fully fit and available. It is clear that Dhoni has either declined significantly in the absence of any form of cricket since the World Cup (pandemic did not help but others played cricket at least in the meantime). This is another reason why I don't think Raina would have made any impact, the last competitive game he played was a year and a half ago and he was even worse than Dhoni back then.

I genuinely think that if teams go for the kill, not panic and play to their potential versus Chennai there is no doubt that Chennai will not be anywhere close to the playoffs. This is very reminiscent of Manchester United under Moyes right after Ferguson retired. Very nearly the same squad yet without the fear factor they crumbled as teams started to go for the kill versus them. I've seen RCB fans say that their team is very poor this season. If you were to make Finch captain and have the squad listen to him and the coaching staff entirely, I guarantee that they will easily finish over Chennai. That is how poor this current side is.

I have no doubt that the return of Rayudu and maybe even Bravo or Tahir can improve the team immensely but it will be because the team management has outwitted the others with superior strategy utilizing the most of a very weak squad and not because Chennai are good.

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

Lol at CSK. Still only playing for NRR? What is the use of NRR when you cannot even win. We saw how Dhoni was past his prime even for India last in the WC, Vijay still keeping a spot shows how adamant they are for changes. Watson, Faf to open, drop Vijay and Hazlewood and bring in Asif and Bravo.

Faf
Watson
Raydu
Dhoni
Bravo
Jadeja
Curran
Gaikwad/Jadhav
Chawla
Chahar
Asif

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

Oh and to be honest, CSK should ask for Ajinkya Rahane in the midseason transfer. Delhi is not going to play him, he might as well play for CSK. He can open with Watto where he likes to bat, Faf, Raydu in the middle could be a good boost CSK needs.

 

[Bevab]

Lol at CSK. Still only playing for NRR? What is the use of NRR when you cannot even win. We saw how Dhoni was past his prime even for India last in the WC, Vijay still keeping a spot shows how adamant they are for changes. Watson, Faf to open, drop Vijay and Hazlewood and bring in Asif and Bravo.

Faf
Watson
Raydu
Dhoni
Bravo
Jadeja
Curran
Gaikwad/Jadhav
Chawla
Chahar
Asif

If I were to choose a playing XI, I would just try this at the moment.

1. Gaikwad (I genuinely believe he has potential and we need to play him and let him grow. You don't play well for the 'A' Team without any skill)
   
2. Faf
   
3. Rayudu
   
4. Jadhav (middle order clearly does not suit him anymore, play him in the top four and have him rotate strike with the odd cheeky boundary)
5. Dhoni (he is past his best and cannot rotate strike well but teams are now simply going to bowl out their worst bowlers before Dhoni is in and if he can get boundaries from them in the middle overs to compensate, he will be fine here)
   
6. Curran
   
7. Jadeja (I've never rated his slogging abilities, he is too limited with the bat and can be easily contained)
   
8. Chahar
9. Chawla
10. Ngidi/Hazlewood (I would prefer the former as a death bowler primarily if he can get some of his pace back up, Hazlewood is world class with the new ball but we already have two swing bowlers)
11. Tahir (if he is fit and still capable of contributing he walks in straightaway)

As the tournament progresses I expect our spin heavy attack to prosper better. We need to give Sai Kishore a game or two at that point, he was incredible in the powerplay last season for Tamil Nadu and having a powerplay spinner against right handed batsmen is a godsend. Watto needs to earn his place sadly, I love the bloke but he isn't worth having for the one or two excellent performances he gives at the expensive of ten crappier ones. If quick runs are needed we can always send Curran ahead to play as the pinch hitter to ease pressure on the run-rate. None of the six bowlers I've chosen are obvious targets to concede runs in the mould of a Siraj or Umesh and the batting despite being weak has some good options tactically to ensure that we can get some runs onboard. Bravo is another one that I forgot who could easily play instead of Tahir if the latter is not fit.

 

[Yash.]

And why the hell haven’t CSK taken someone as a replacement for Bhajji and Raina? It is a blessing that they can pick fresher legs which would help their team a lot.

 

[wasteyouryouth]

@EyeInTheSky @Bevab Was thinking earlier, I'd go Faf to open. He seems to be able to get through the gears better than the others.

The 12 month gap for Dhoni is gonna be tough, particularly when you're at the end of your career. When you've done it all too, it's going to be tough to motivate yourself in empty stadiums, probably has an impact on a few players.

Perhaps they were hoping to get through this season and then refresh with the mega auction.

It's only three games and, even though they've looked poor chasing in the last two matches, they are the only team to successfully chase in the tournament I believe.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

They are missing Rayudu (the 2018 version that we saw in the first game to be exact), not Raina at all. There is a perception that Raina has been useful when for the most part he has been average at best for the last two seasons, especially for a senior batsman and the money he earns.

There is no doubt that on current form that Rayudu is their best batter. But, in their 10-12 year history, Raina has been amazing. I think his bowling is being missed too.

 

[SaiSrini]

CSK have gotten into a serious muddle, as Fleming has put it after the match. I wonder what soul searching are they going to do in the 1 week break that they've got. This defeat to DC has shaken them at the core with lot of questions and fear of 'losing their enviable record of 100% playoffs'

I would personally go with this XI for the SRH match atleast and see how this works:

Watson
Faf
Ruturaj
Rayudu
Dhoni
Jadeja
Bravo
Curran
Chawla
Chahar
Saikishore

Vijay and Jadhav are truly batters who have grafted and they don't fit the scheme of things. Watson showed some glimpses of getting his hitting mojo back. I would move Faf up to open with Watson. Faf has been brilliant with the bat, but the recurrent theme of his batting so far has been that he starts slow and takes time before he gets into "I can do anything" mode. And that leaves the other batter with all the pressure (Rayudu handled it successfully against MI; Curran/Ruturaj/Jadhav didn't against RR and same story against DC). Push him up to open. Have Ruturaj at No. 3. This boy needs to be persisted with. Cant sack him for the two low scores because he has played under extreme pressure situations but he has lot of potential. Rayudu at No. 4 is self explanatory. Dhoni HAS to bat No. 5. He cant go any lower. And then have Jadeja, Bravo and Curran as the lower order hitters after Dhoni. This way, Dhoni has cushion after him and can go at the bowling early. Playing Watson/Faf/Bravo/Curran means CSK cant play any of Santner/Tahir/Ngidi/Hazlewood. I would play an extra spinner in Saikishore, who as Bevab said, is a Powerplay bowler. Also a new wild card that can be thrown at teams as they would have not played him much (If we need an extra seamer, play Shardul or Asif). Which means Bravo/Chahar have to handle death bowling duties with an over or two from Curran. I guess we can live with that if the batting sorts itself out and is ready to chase down tall scores or set big scores.