Top players to playing 11: All you need to know about CSK ahead of IPL 2020

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will be eyeing its fourth Indian Premier League (IPL) title this season. The Indian Cement-owned franchise, led by India’s most successful captain MS Dhoni, has been the most dominant IPL team and looks to live up to expectations in IPL 2020.

The team had a dodgy start to its campaign in the UAE after 13 members of the camp tested positive for coronavirus and the entire contingent had to quarantine themselves for longer than expected.

Then Suresh Raina, who recently retired from international cricket, pulled out of the tournament and returned to India. While premier off-spinner Harbhajan Singh did not travel with the team, he later pulled out of the tournament citing personal reasons.

'Captain cool' MS Dhoni would look to go with his tried and tested playing 11 from the last season. However, the absence of Raina and Harbhajan has affected the balance of the side. Still, the team has the firepower to continue its dominance in this season too. Given the slow nature of the UAE wickets, the teams would be tempted to go with an extra spinner. Though CSK has a handy batting all-rounder in Kedar Jadhav, who can roll over his arm with a slinger type action. The experience of Watson and du Plessis at the top will give the team much needed steady start given, the Dubai pitch may slow down in the second innings and 150-160 runs at the board can be a fighting total.

CSK tentative playing 11: Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Imran Tahir, Piyush Chawla, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur.

CSK players’ list

Super Kings made an excellent comeback in IPL 2018 after a two-year ban and won its third title, defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad. Ahead of IPL 2020 auctions, the Chennai-based franchise has released the least number of players and in the auctions, bought only four players – Piyush Chawla, Sam Curran, Josh Hazelwood and R Sai Kishore (uncapped).

Over the years, CSK has not depended only on one or two players and has qualified for playoffs in 10 seasons played by it so far. However, there have been only a few players, who were consistent with the bat and ball.

CSK suppport-staff

Head coach: Stephen Fleming

Batting coach: Michael Hussey

Bowling coach: Lakshmipathy Balaji

Bowling consultant: Eric Simons

Fielding coach: Rajiv Kumar

Physiotherapist: Tommy Simsek

Trainer: Gregory King

Team manager: R Russell

Performance analyst: Lakshmi Narayanan

Logistics manager: Sanjay Natarajan

Business Standard takes a look at the CSK squad and has looks at the top five players who make a difference in IPL 2020.

In IPL 2019, he scored 416 runs at a whopping average of 83.20 with a strike rate of 134.62, including his highest individual score of 84 not out.

National role: Retired from international cricket

Batting style: Right handed middle order batsman

When we talk about Chennai Super Kings, the one name that comes to everybody’s mind is MS Dhoni. However, IPL 2020 is going to be a different proposition for him as he has been out from cricketing action since India’s debacle in the semifinal of ICC World Cup 2019. He announced his retirement from international cricket on August 15, 2020.

Dhoni played some great knocks in the last two seasons and scored over 400 runs. In IPL 2019, he scored 416 runs at a whopping average of 83.20 with a strike rate of 134.62, including his highest individual score of 84 not out.

Check 2020 IPL full schedule here

Dwayne Bravo, West Indies

• National role: Bowling all rounder, came out of retirement
• Batting style: Right handed batsman
• Bowling style: Right arm medium fast

The West Indian all-rounder Dwayne Bravo has come out of retirement in international cricket and is looking to bid for a spot in ICC T20 World Cup. He has been a go-to man for MS Dhoni in the IPL during the death overs.

He took CSK out of trickey situations on more than one occasion in the past seven 7 years and looks to continue with his match-winning performances. In the 134 matches played so far, Bravo scored 1,483 runs at an average of 23.17 with a strike rate of 128.28. In the bowling department, he has 147 wickets by his name at an average of 24.60, including two 4-wicket hauls.

In IPL 2019, in spite of not being in form, his knock in playoffs helped CSK play the summit clash with Mumbai Indians. File photo: PTI

Batting style: Right handed batsman

Bowling: Right arm medium

Shane Watson came to Super Kings’ fold ahead of IPL 2018 and the Australian all-rounder helped his franchise win the title after completing a two-year ban. He set the tone for CSK at the top of the batting order, which helped the middle and lower-order batsman.

In IPL 2019, in spite of not being in form, his knock in playoffs helped CSK play the summit clash with Mumbai Indians. In the 134 matches played so far, Watson scored 3,575 runs at an average of 31.08 and a strike rate of 139.53, along with 4 centuries and 19 fifties.

In the bowling department, he has taken 92 wickets, while conceding runs at the rate of 7.93 an over. Although, he was out from international cricket for quite some time, he has been hitting the ball brilliantly, as was visible during a Bushfire charity match.

Check 2020 IPL points table and team standings here

Deepak Chahar

• National role: Bowler
• Bowling style: Right arm medium
• Batting style: Right handed batsman

Deepak Chahar was one of the two players in CSK who tested positive for coronavirus after the team landed in UAE. This forced him to remain indoors and he finally joined the team for a practice session on September 11.

The medium pacer got the national call on his brilliant IPL stint in the last two seasons. In IPL 2018, he took 10 wickets in 12 matches with an economy rate of 7.28 and played some crucial knocks down the order, taking his team to victory.

In IPL 2019, he played all the 17 matches and took 22 wickets with an economy rate of 7.47. He did not have an exceptional start to his international career, but later on, became a consistent member of India’s T20 squad and a strike bowler. Although he was injured during the ODI series against the West Indies and was ruled out till March, the forced break due to the coronavirus pandemic helped him recover completely.

Being a strike bowler for CSK, Chahar will look to put up a strong performance in IPL 2020 to claim a spot in T20 World Cup squad.

Ravindra Jadeja has been an integral part of Chennai Super Kings for the last five years. File photo: PTI

• National role: Bowling all-rounder
• Bowling style: Left arm orthodox
• Batting style: Left handed batsman

Ravindra Jadeja has some brilliant performances to his name in international cricket and his superb fielding, bowling and batting skills have made him an integral part of the Indian squad. Before the coronavirus outbreak, he played some crucial knocks for Team India and did what he does for IPL franchise.

Ravindra Jadeja has been an integral part of Chennai Super Kings for the last five years and has been very helpful on the slow Chepauk wicket. His left arm spin bowling will also come handy for the Chennai-based franchise on UAE’s slow and sticky wickets. He has played an astonishing 170 matches in IPL and has also had stints with Rajasthan Royals and Kochi Tuskers.

Jadeja scored 1,927 runs at an average of 24.08 and a strike rate of 122.58. His best score was 48.

In the bowling department, he has taken 108 wickets at an average of 29.18 and an economy rate of 7.57. He had three four-wicket hauls and one five-wicket haul. His best bowling performance of 5 for 16 came in the 2012 edition of IPL.

Check Chennai Super Kings fixtures, match timings and venue here:

CSK Full schedule for IPL 2020
DATE	DAY	Matches	IST	UAE	VENUE	STADIUM NAME
19-Sep-20	SAT	MI vs CSK	7:30PM	6:00PM	ABU DHABI	Sheikh Zayed stadium
22-Sep-20	TUE	RR vs CSK	7:30PM	6:00PM	SHARJAH	Sharjah cricket stadium
25-Sep-20	FRI	CSK vs DC	7:30PM	6:00PM	DUBAI	Dubai international cricket stadium
2-Oct-20	FRI	CSK vs SRH	7:30PM	6:00PM	DUBAI	Dubai international cricket stadium
4-Oct-20	SUN	KXIP vs CSK	7:30PM	6:00PM	DUBAI	Dubai international cricket stadium
7-Oct-20	WED	KKR vs CSK	7:30PM	6:00PM	ABU DHABI	Sheikh Zayed stadium
10-Oct-20	SAT	CSK vs RCB	7:30PM	6:00PM	DUBAI	Dubai international cricket stadium
13-Oct-20	TUE	SRH vs CSK	7:30PM	6:00PM	DUBAI	Dubai international cricket stadium
17-Oct-20	SAT	DC vs CSK	7:30PM	6:00PM	SHARJAH	Sharjah cricket stadium
19-Oct-20	MON	CSK vs RR	7:30PM	6:00PM	ABU DHABI	Abu Dhabi cricket stadium
23-Oct-20	FRI	CSK vs MI	7:30PM	6:00PM	SHARJAH	Sharjah cricket stadium
25-Oct-20	SUN	RCB vs CSK	3:30PM	2:00PM	DUBAI	Dubai international cricket stadium
29-Oct-20	THU	CSK vs KKR	7:30PM	6:00PM	DUBAI	Dubai international cricket stadium
1-Nov-20	SUN	CSK vs KXIP	3:30PM	2:00PM	ABU DHABI	Sheikh Zayed stadium