Will CSK's Oldies get some spark this year??

After not being a table topper last year, CSK will aim to regain their reputation of being a consistent performer, this year. But are they good enough to repeat the top class these oldies had shown in 2018 after the 2-year ban was lifted? I don't think CSK can even qualify if they decide to play with the same eleven and the same kind of strategy they had last year.

After all, age is not just a number and it obviously affects the performance of any player or an athlete. CSK's Most of the star players such as MS Dhoni (39), Suresh Raina (34), Ambati Rayatu(35), Dwayne Bravo (37), Faf Du Plessis (36), Robin Uthappa (35) and Imran Tahir (42) are neither playing nor practising the cricket consistently and their performance was not up to the mark last year as well.

MS Dhoni smashed only 200 (his lowest in all season) runs in 2020 and was out of form mostly which was the prime reason, I believe for not being in the semi-finals or finals last year. The absence of Suresh Raina, poor performance of Dwayne Bravo and Shane Watson helps CSK to reach at bottom of the point table in 2020.

The only positive for CSK from last year were the solo performances of Sam Curran, Ravindra Jadeja and Ruturaj Gaikwad who smashed 3 consecutive fifties in the last 4 matches. The Whole scenario points out that CSK should go with the young talented player who is in touch with cricket and practising a lot. After all, you must have heard that practice makes a man perfect.

From my point of view, CSK should have brought some young player earlier as a long term investment, maybe in 2018 or earlier like in 2015 or 2014, because MSD is not going to captain the team 10 years from now. As a team one should always bring new talent year by year to keep their core 11 strong enough otherwise it is difficult to get even into playoffs. In the case of CSK, they mostly trusted and played with the same core who were playing international crickets a lot at that time. But now most of those players are retired from international cricket and stayed away from cricket most of the time until the IPL is scheduled.

As the standard of the IPL has evolved year by year, the players who are catching and fielding like superhuman in every other match besides batting and bowling will be in great demand. In such a case, we all know CSK has some poor track record of bad fielding and dropping catch (especially in 2020). Who knows? Maybe that why CSK couldn’t play the final or semi-finals in 2020. For 2021, the new notable buy from CSK is Moeen Ali, Krishnapa Gowtham, and Cheteswar Pujara. Left-handed Moeen Ali is a good pick as an opener (if backed), replacing Shane Watson, with young Ruturaj Gaikwad. With these new buy, CSK is going to have a mixture of talent and experience on their side which may help them make it into playoffs or maybe in the finals. Personally, I want to see MS Dhoni, the captain cool, lifting the IPL-2021 trophy last time. If not, then next year CSK will need some major change in a mega auction like changing the entire core with retaining two to three core players.

Moreover, this year, CSK has most of the match on the seaming pitch like Eden Garden and Wankhede which may create some strain to CSK as CSK mostly has swing bowlers like Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar and Sam Curran. Moreover, the only hope in the fast bowling department was josh hazelwood who has withdrawn his name from IPL-2021. In such a case, CSK may finalize Billy Stanlake, or Jason Behrendorff, or Mitchell McClenaghan Or maybe they will keep faith in young fast bowler lungi Ngidi who is already in their squad.

The team look quite balance and experienced but you know, sometimes the aura of the team just disappears slowly if the team is reluctant to change the core player which halts the progress of the team.

However, the man behind the stump for CSK has won lots of impossible matches, in various condition, in various ways with not so good looking team on paper. He can magic the thing in unexpected ways and I would love to see his magic last time. What else be the goal for all players other than winning a trophy as a proper send-off of captain cool MS DHONI.

Full Squad:
MS Dhoni (C and WK), Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, N Jagadeesan, Faf Du Plessis, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sam Curran, Ravi Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Mitchell Santner, Josh Hazlewood, Shardul Thakur, Karn Sharma, KM Asif, Imran Tahir, R. Sai Kishore, Deepak Chahar, Lungi Ngidi, Moeen Ali, Krishnappa Gowtham, Harisankar Reddy, Bhagvath Varma and Cheteshwar Pujara

UPDate: As I had predicted, CSK signed Jason Behrendorff for IPL 2021.