Why is Chennai’s stable ship sinking all of a sudden?

The Indian Premier League’s most consistent side and three-time champions Chennai Super Kings are lingering at the bottom of the points table after 10 matches. On Monday, the MS Dhoni-led side were bettered and battered in all departments by Rajasthan Royals, marking their seventh defeat of the season. 

But where did it all go wrong for the CSK brigade?

Flip-flopping the batting order

A major chunk of CSK’s season have gone in finding the right batting lineup, which still seems to elude them. 

In the initial matches, the discourse focused on Dhoni’s batting position and if the former Indian skipper had stopped backing himself as the finisher he once was. 

Soon putting an end to all the noise, Dhoni promoted himself up the order but then it was Kedar Jadhav’s form that cost the team in the middle overs. 

Cautious in the start, overburdened in the middle

The Chennai-based franchise’s general approach has been to have a cautious start during the powerplay over and preserve the wickets.

However, in a format of the game where run-scoring boundaries are being pushed every moment, CSK’s safe approach has been a bit outdated and leaves a lot on the plate for the final few overs of the innings. 

To put things in perspective, chasing 165 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the first tie between the two teams, CSK scored 43-1 during the middle overs (7-15), which is the lowest in the IPL so far.

Although recently, CSK pushed swashbuckling allrounder Sam Curran up the order to counter the bowlers during the powerplay, however, it may just be too late for Curran to take up a brand new role in the team and perfect it.  

Lack of depth in pace bowling unit

Remarkably, all the Top 4 contenders for the purple cap this season are pace bowlers. Leading the line is Kagiso Rabada with 19 wickets followed by the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami and Jofra Archer. 

Although Deepak Chahar and Curran have both scalped 10 wickets each, having a dedicated fast bowler to lead the line is a major requirement in the UAE grounds.

Lining up yorkers after yorkers is an able option for the death overs and CSK have clearly been lacking on that front. 

Bumrah, Shami or domestic talent T Natarajan have shown the value of getting the bowl right in the blockhole throughout the season.

Missing the oomph factor

CSK have always been guided by some brilliant individual performances over the years. However, in the 13th edition of IPL, the Dhoni-led side seems to be scratching their head hoping for someone to turn up and become the X-factor. 

The former Indian wicketkeeper-batsman, who is known for his signatory finishing ability, has himself been struggling for form. 

Except for the veteran South African du Plessis, there’s not been much of a consistent show from anyone. Dwayne Bravo, who for over the years had been their dynamic unit, was absent for the initial matches and once he returned, he was only a shadow of his former self.

The charismatic Ravindra Jadeja too have found it difficult to get going.

The ignored domestic talents

This has been a season of Hollywood underdog narratives. Be it the Tewatias, the Natrajans, the Bishnois or the Padikkals, there have been some phenomenal performances from the domestic talents. 

But Chennai have failed to catch that boat. They have stuck to the big names and the youngsters have only been left as surplus on the bench. 

It’s hard to argue why Narayan Jagadeesan has not featured more regularly this season, even with the batting lineup in an absolutely shambolic state. 

The aggressive Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper-batsman played only a single match in the IPL 2020, amassed a solid 33 runs from 28 balls and was run out. Since then he has been out of the team and there’s not much to read between the lines here.