Three-time champion Chennai Super Kings (CSK) had a torrid season last season. They finished seventh in the eight-team tournament after a mere 12 points in 14 games. In the upcoming Indian Premier League season (IPL 2021), the team led by MS Dhoni will be looking to turn things around. However, former cricketer Aakash Chopra believes that they are not going to have it easy and are expected to face multiple problems throughout the season.
This year, due to the Cov-19 pandemic and the multiple restrictions and regulations of each state, the tournament will be played in a caravan format and no team will play on their own ground.
CSK will start their campaign in Mumbai and will play five games at the Wankhede Stadium. They will then move to Delhi and play four games at Arun Jaitley Stadium. Their third leg of three matches will take place at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru and the “Yellow Army” will culminate their league leg with two matches at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Teams will have to adapt to different conditions on a regular basis, as they will no longer have the comfort of basing their tactics on the conventional round-trip format. Aakash Chopra commented that this could be the reason why Chennai could suffer this year.
Chopra, in a video uploaded to his Facebook account, joked that the Chennai team may be off to a bad start in Mumbai due to a mismatch between his team’s combination and the field conditions at Wankhede.
“In Mumbai, pacemakers are more successful. 70% of the grounds have been taken up by rhythm bowlers and it’s not particularly useful for spinners and Chennai is a bit of a heavy team. They have Karn Sharma, Imran Tahir, Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Santner. They bought Moeen Ali and Krishnappa Gowtham. Therefore, the list of spinners in their team is still quite high. Despite allowing Bhajji (Harbhajan Singh) and [Piyush] Chawla wow, they are a unit of many twists.
“Their fast bowling doesn’t have much firepower. Yes, they have Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Sam Curran, Lungi Ngidi, Dwayne Bravo and Josh Hazlewood. But will that be enough? What will be the ideal balance?” Chopra added. .
The cricketer-turned-commentator also noted that if Dhoni and company win three of their five matches in the city of Maharashtra, it will count as a great achievement.
“You are required to get a high score in Mumbai. The winning score for the first inning is almost 180. So they will have to play a different kind of cricket there. If the Chennai Super Kings can win three of their first five games in Mumbai, I think it will be a great achievement. My prediction is that they may not start very well, “said Chopra.
Chopra, however, hopes that Chennai will have a good time in Delhi, as the playing field adapts to his strength, which is the spinning bowling alley.
“They should be fine in Delhi because it is a small field and (the wicket) helps the spinner a lot. The ball turns and also stays low at times. The field will suit their type of cricket,” added Chopra.
Speaking of Bangalore, Chopra, 43, once again opined that the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium may prove to be bad news for CSK.
“They don’t have a good enough bowling attack for Bengaluru. Bengaluru is a bat versus bat contest and the overall bowling firepower required there doesn’t exist with Chennai. Therefore, Bangalore is going to hurt them again.”
He concluded by talking about his prospects in Eden Gardens, his final destination. “Calcutta, [looks] even-stevens. It has also become a terrain with high scores and a good pace. I think Chennai will face some difficulties there too. “
CSK will begin its campaign against the capitals of Delhi on April 10.
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