IPL 2020 Chennai Super Kings Team Review: CSK's First Poor Season Leaves Them With Plenty of Questions for Future

Just put it down to the year 2020? Well, how else does one explain the season Chennai Super Kings had in the Indian Premier League? Three time champions. Seven time finalists. Two time winners of Champions League. The only team to have made the final four in every IPL season they were a part of… until 2020.

So many things went wrong for CSK, starting with the pre-season build up. While other teams started training on time, CSK had to extend quarantine as 13 members of the touring party, including two players, were down with COVID-19. To make things worse, Suresh Raina left UAE for personal reasons. And Harbhajan Singh stayed back in India for personal reasons.

CSK were without two of their key players, and for some reason, didn’t seek replacements either. All seemed well when they started their campaign by beating mighty Mumbai Indians, but once Ambati Rayudu missed a couple of matches with injury, things went downhill. The batting failed, while the bowlers tried hard to compensate. They persisted with seniors over youngsters until almost the very end. Eventually, they became the first team to be eliminated although they then finished with three wins in a row.

IPL 2020 record: Played: 14; Won: 6; Lost: 8; Points: 12; Standing: 7th

High point

The high point for CSK, ironically, came after they were knocked out of the race for the playoffs. They ended their campaign on a high note, winning three in a row defeating Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab.

Until then, CSK looked lacklustre and unable to find their right combination. Their intent was under scanner, their tactics seemed haywire. But the turnaround started when they began trusting their youngsters. Ruturaj Gaikwad in particular impressed after a poor start to his campaign; he was affected by COVID-19 and had three poor scores in his first three innings, but turned it around for himself later with three consecutive half-centuries. It earned him three successive Man of the Match awards and also a record for the first CSK batsman to make three successive fifties.

More importantly, it would have given CSK the confidence that they can trust their youngsters in the upcoming years.

Low point

To single out a single low point would be difficult given the poor year they had. There were multiple opportunities for CSK to win matches but they somehow bungled them all.

For instance, they needed 39 off 21 in a game against KKR with six wickets in hand, but fell 10 runs short.

Fortune also played a part. They had to defend 17 in the final over against Delhi Capitals, but their prime death bowler Dwayne Bravo was unavailable with injury which meant they went with Ravindra Jadeja. Two left-handers in the middle made it an easy win for DC.

Captaincy verdict

MS Dhoni’s hands were tied for most parts, but there were still some things he could have got better. Which he did, towards the end after everything was done.

Raina’s unavailability meant CSK were a prime batsman short. Which meant they had to play two experienced batsmen in Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis, although Watson was in and out of form. The bowling seemed okay, and thus, Imran Tahir/Mitchell Santner struggled to find a place. The balance CSK went with meant they were neither strong in the batting nor in the bowling.

Dhoni’s persistence with Watson was understandable, but his refusal to drop Kedar Jadhav came under the scanner. Jadhav had a terrible year and yet found a place for most games while the likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad and N Jagadeesan, who were fairly impressive, stayed out.

Dhoni’s statement that the youngsters didn’t show spark didn’t go down well either. Eventually, when the mistakes were corrected, the results followed but it was too little too late.

Most valuable player

Sam Curran

186 runs from 11 innings. 13 wickets from 13 matches.

Young Sam Curran was easily the most valuable player for CSK in a tough year. He gave them quick runs when needed, batted at the top, middle and death. He did the same with the ball, bowling with the new ball and also in the death.

Curran’s all-round impressive show could give him a long run with the franchise.

Major disappointment

MS Dhoni

200 runs from 12 innings at a strike rate of 116. Says it all.

Dhoni clearly lacked match practice, and just couldn’t hit the sixes (only seven of them). It wasn’t for lack of effort, he did try to slow in many matches but just didn’t find his rhythm.

After the tournament was over, Dhoni said he’s definitely not retiring yet. He also hoped for more practice in the coming months, so he’ll want to turn tables in the next season.

Season Verdict

Every team goes through a bad year and this was CSK’s turn. That they finished strongly should give them hope for the future.

However, that won’t happen automatically. They’ll have to learn from the mistakes this season. After the IPL 2019 final, Dhoni had spoken about the need to strengthen their batting but they did nothing to improve that in the subsequent auction.

Now, they have no choice but to go for a revamp. Shane Watson has retired, and a few others will find it difficult to find takers. How CSK handles the transition phase will be interesting to see.

Statistics

Most runs:  Faf du Plessis (449)

Most wickets: Sam Curran (13)

Highest individual score: Faf du Plessis (87* vs KXIP)

Best Bowling Figures: Sam Curran (3/19)

• chennai super kings
• CSK
• Faf du Plessis
• harbhajan singh
• Imran Tahir
• ipl
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• ipl 2020
• IPL 2020 CSK review
• IPL 2020 CSK season review
• IPL 2020 Team Reviews
• MS Dhoni
• Ruturaj Gaikwad
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