Chennai
Super Kings got off to the ideal start in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 against
Mumbai Indians in a repeat of last year’s final, restricting the defending champions
to a total of 162 runs, which they chased down comfortably with five wickets in
hand.

However,
since that win, MS Dhoni’s charges have lost back-to-back matches, falling short
in their chase against both Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Capitals. From their openers
not firing to key figures missing, here is a look at some of the underlying reasons
for the CSK’s failures so far:

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Opening issues:

One of the
primary issues with CSK last year was the absence of a big-hitting batsman at
the top of the batting order. Skipper Dhoni, who usually bats lower down the
order, finished as the team’s fastest scoring batsman, with no one surpassing
his strike rate of 140.

However, the
Chennai side did not address that problem in the player auction last December,
instead opting to splurge on Piyush Chawla to make him the most expensive
signing of the auction.

That seems
to be costing CSK as their ageing openers, Murali Vijay and Shane Watson, have
failed to make an impact so far, scoring a combined 83 runs from 85 deliveries
in 6 innings so far.

Spinners
leaking runs:

Last year,
Imran Tahir finished with the Purple Cap, awarded to the highest wicket taker,
with 26 scalps. However, the 40-year-old has not featured for CSK so far, with Dhoni
choosing to stick with long-serving all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and newly
bought Piyush Chawla as the spin options.

Both have proved
to be expensive so far, leaking runs at an alarming rate. Jadeja, particularly,
has conceded 126 runs from 12 overs at an economy of 10.5 per over. They have
also picked up a meager six wickets between them so far.

Also Read: MS Dhoni says lack of steam in the batting ‘hurts’ after losing to Delhi Capitals

Missing players:

CSK’s
campaign seemed cursed from the onset as apart from a number of players and
staff testing positive for the coronavirus on their arrival to the UAE, Suresh
Raina and Harbhajan Singh decided to skip the marquee tournament over personal
reasons.

Raina’s absence
has particularly hurt the Chennai outfit, as ‘Mr IPL’ was a mainstay at the top
of the order and has amassed 5,368 runs over his IPL career, behind only Royal
Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli.

Dwayne Bravo’s
injury-forced absence has also been a major factor for Chennai’s underperformance
so far, as the Trinidadian all-rounder plays a crucial role with both the bat
and the ball.

Dhoni’s
batting position:

Another
major talking point, and potential error by the CSK camp, has been the batting position
of skipper Dhoni. The Ranchi-born batsman has established himself as one of the
best finishers of the game, coming out to bat at number five or six and capping
off famous victories in a typical explosive fashion.

Also Read: ‘Start leading from the front’: Gautam Gambhir on MS Dhoni batting at number seven

However, being
out of action for over a year now – he last played a competitive match in India’s
semi-final loss to New Zealand in last year’s ODI World Cup – Dhoni has seemed
rusty in his three outings so far.

Free from
the shackles of international cricket, and with the absence of southpaw Raina, Dhoni
was expected to promote himself higher up the order in order to face more
deliveries and play a more central role in CSK’s batting.

That has
not been the case so far, as Dhoni has opted to send the likes of Tom Curran,
Ruturaj Gaikwad and Kedar Jadhav ahead of him
. That might change, however, as the tournament progresses and will be pivotal for any chances of CSK lifting their fourth title.