Indian Premier League - General Discussion

Its weird that people stay quiet when Dhoni played those 'real positive' innings in the first 2 games of this season. The one game he struggles, all the daggers are drawn. Even the wicket he fell to, was incredibly unfortunate (nicked a wide down leg side delivery). He won the title for the team despite not contributing almost anything with bat last season. CSK was once mostly about Dhoni's batting contributions. But in past few years, they've moved away from that mindset.

Punjab did a great job exploiting his weakeness against leg spin, by bowling Chahar and Livingstone (who resorted to leagues) in tandem. And that added with no dew and in much drier conditions, sucker punched CSK in. This game was very unfortunate for CSK that they faced a curve ball. Nobody expected Bradbourne to be so dry and dew free today. Read experts talking about some heavy anti-dew spraying that was done the previous day on the insistence of Javagal Srinath (I am not using that as an excuse; very unfortunate that CSK didn't know much about it or judged how effective those measures would be).

I think the pieces for CSK are falling way slower for their liking, but the pieces are all there and thats why I keep saying that they did not do that bad a job in the mega auction. I think in 2010, CSK were faced with a "back to the wall" situation when entering the second half of the league phase and they famously qualified for the playoffs in the last league game in Dharmashala against Punjab (that famous Dhoni jaw punch game). That season, CSK came from behind to enter playoffs and win title. Maybe we could do the same, or we could wither away like 2020. But this time, I am not expecting big because we know this is a transition phase and its almost always painful, especially when you have a massive figure like MS Dhoni who has literally lorded over this franchise and this city for the past 14 years. Who knows maybe a bad season this year might convince Jadeja that he is not cut out for captaincy and he might turn it over to Ruturaj sooner. Or maybe Jadeja will learn as he goes and get better. My expectations are pretty low from CSK this year. It'll be special if they make the playoffs

With regards to the former I absolutely disagree. Do you believe that a team like CSK that has retained seven of their starting XI players tonight needs to 'find their feet' yet again? I find Rajasthan and Punjab already finding consistency in terms of their playing XI, heck I'd say Mumbai themselves have found a solid XI despite losing two games.

As for the latter, do we have a better alternative for Jaddu at five other than Dube? I'd have taken him at five if he were bringing his form from the last 2-3 seasons. Captaincy seems to have brought more pressure on him. And I really do hope you don't believe Dhoni is the solution after his KKR knock.

Gotta say, I'm really liking Punjab's analytical approach to the game this season. They saved Chahar for the last five overs knowing that Dhoni would try to survive till then and also dared to bowl Livingstone, a part-timer because Mahi is weak to wrist-spin. A gutsy call rooted in solid data ahead of the conventional logic. Mayank definitely seems like a malleable captain, the perfect one for this new Punjabi approach.

They are playing under a new captain and that's a pretty big factor for finding their feet again. And they've a lot of new faces in there. I would say that the squad of today is about 55-60% of the squad that we had in 2021. Major changes of personnel (e.g. Faf, Hazlewood, Curran, Raina, etc).
 
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Its weird that people stay quiet when Dhoni played those 'real positive' innings in the first 2 games of this season. The one game he struggles, all the daggers are drawn. Even the wicket he fell to, was incredibly unfortunate (nicked a wide down leg side delivery).

MSD was never the same since the CWC 2015. I dont know why people find it hard to believe that he is way past his prime.

To your point, the 2 games this IPL that Dhoni scored on, he batted first. He wasnt xhasing, he wasn't under pressure. MS approach in chasing scenarios has been poor for quite some time now.

Who knows maybe a bad season this year might convince Jadeja that he is not cut out for captaincy and he might turn it over to Ruturaj sooner

Now this is where they failed as a franchise. Their assumption of MS and Raina sticking /playing for perpetuity has back fired. Says a lot that Jadeja is just the 3rd person to lead them in these last 10 years.

No succession planning has meant they have had to turn to the senior most Indian in their side to lead. He hasn't been groomed, wasnt deputy to MS last year and has been thrust into that position without a thought.

Other teams atleast have a pipeline of players who have been international captains, but not CSK.
They are playing under a new captain and that's a pretty big factor for finding their feet again. And they've a lot of new faces in there. I would say that the squad of today is about 55-60% of the squad that we had in 2021. Major changes of personnel (e.g. Faf, Hazlewood, Curran, Raina, etc).
Now whose fault is it? Had MSD stepped aside gracefully after the last edition, the management would have gotten adequate time with Jaddu to select a squad that personifies his approach. Instead, they filled up the team purely on emotional abgles by going after Rayadu, Bravo and Santner (who doesn't even feature in their team most of the time).

The likes of KM Asif, Jagadeesan and Hangargekar are going to be watsed talents in such a setup and wouldn't be surprised if this franchise is the reason for their downfall.

For the betterment of players and the franchisee, MSD would be better off retiring from the game itself. Hopefully, they have a conversation with Jadeja /the new captain before they enter the next auction.
 
Last time was 2014. They were just so good to watch that season, thrill a minute cricket. The bowlers consistently leaked 30 runs above par and Sehwag, Maxwell and Miller chased it
Everything was going well until Parvinder Awana Harakiri :(
 
Quite ironical of people who talk of Dhoni dragging the game when they themselves question Rishabh Pant's approach.

In my view there was no chance of CSK pulling off the chase when they lost 5 wickets on the score of 36!

People don't understand that at that point of time it was better to ensure that the team doesn't get bowled out for 80-90 and let the net run rate suffer even more. I don't think there was a need to show any bravado or something that we can chase 180-odd even after being 5 down for 30-odd. That would be infact a stupid thing to do.
 
Quite ironical of people who talk of Dhoni dragging the game when they themselves question Rishabh Pant's approach.

In my view there was no chance of CSK pulling off the chase when they lost 5 wickets on the score of 36!

People don't understand that at that point of time it was better to ensure that the team doesn't get bowled out for 80-90 and let the net run rate suffer even more. I don't think there was a need to show any bravado or something that we can chase 180-odd even after being 5 down for 30-odd. That would be infact a stupid thing to do.
But isnt that the beauty of T20? T20 was created so that everyone hammers. While MSD is almost 41, he is fit as f! He too knows his limitations and with age that was always a given. I get the frustration and haters (@Till Valhalla) ready to pounce him and that is fair. He could have easily retired from IPL, be in the CSK camp and lead from the dressing room. CSK would have saved 16 crores if I remember correctly and could have had a good team buildup.

He however played amazing in the first two games so I am sure we can hope for some firecrackers from him in few matches.
 
In my view there was no chance of CSK pulling off the chase when they lost 5 wickets on the score of 36!

People don't understand that at that point of time it was better to ensure that the team doesn't get bowled out for 80-90 and let the net run rate suffer even more. I don't think there was a need to show any bravado or something that we can chase 180-odd even after being 5 down for 30-odd. That would be infact a stupid thing to do.
Yes. All these innings were stupid.



 

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