The Chennai Super Kings finally managed to earn a solid win under their belt after defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad by 20 runs in Dubai. They have now moved one step above in the points table to the 6th position, with 3 wins in 8 games. Before last night, Chennai’s campaign had been horrible. They looked listless and uninspired and it appeared as if the Chennai juggernaut had already derailed.
But last night’s win showed that Chennai still has it in them and can still make their way to the top. Here are a few of those ways in which they can achieve the goal.
1. Ditch the conservative approach
For the first half of the tournament, Chennai has been quite conservative at the start. They start slowly, then try and finish with a bang. That tactic worked on Indian pitches but is backfiring in the UAE. More often than not, the first four batsmen are so conservative in their approach, that the Chennai innings just meanders around, and then there is immense pressure on the lower-middle order to finish with a flurry. With captain MS Dhoni not in form, that has become an issue.
What Chennai should do is let Sam Curran open the innings as he did in the match against Hyderabad. Curran’s 31 off 21 balls was the perfect cameo the team needed and the talented left-hander has the ability to keep producing more such knocks. He can play those quickfire innings and change the momentum for Chennai.
2. Bring Jadeja up the order
Ravindra Jadeja has been in good batting form. He has shown that in all the opportunities he has got in this season. He scored a fine 50 against Hyderabad earlier in the season and has followed it up with lovely cameos at the end of the innings. In the game that Chennai lost against Kolkata at Abu Dhabi, while chasing a target of 168, Jadeja scored 21 unbeaten runs off just 8 balls. Had he been sent in earlier, he could have well won that match. Even in the last match against Hyderabad, it was Jadeja’s 25* off 10 balls, that gave Chennai the push.
He is in good hitting form and should bat at least at No.4. Since the Chennai middle-order is struggling to get going, Jadeja could be a valuable asset in the 4th position. After Curran’s quick start, Jadeja could move things along and give the team a solid platform.
3. Get Imran Tahir in now
It is puzzling how Imran Tahir, who was the highest wicket-taker in IPL 2019 with 26 wickets for Chennai, hasn’t even found a place in the team for one game this season. The South African leg-spinner is a game-changer and a genuine wicket-taker. Moreover, the wickets in the UAE are now changing; they are slowing down and offering more grip and turn for the sippers. This is the best time to bring Tahir in as he would absolutely thrive on these pitches and can make a serious impact. Maybe replace Bravo or Faf du Plessis for him.
4. Rotate the strike better
Most of the Chennai batsmen have been lethargic and rusty and haven’t been able to rotate the strike at all during the middle stages. While they have hit the fewest sixes so far this season, they haven’t even made it up by running better and stealing those singles and twos. There’s a clear lack of intent from the top and middle order and the slow-moving legs don’t help either. Most of the Super Kings batsmen still look rusty and simply settle for singles when they can easily push for tows. This becomes even more evident when opposition batsmen like Virat Kohli and David Warner steal those singles and twos against them for fun.
This lethargic approach needs to be discarded and the batsmen need to show a lot more urgency in the middle overs so that they can rotate the strike better. This can have a little bit of serious impact on their overall performance on the day.