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Cricket News: 3 things CSK must correct in the IPL 2021 playoffs | Looking at how CSK can regain form in the IPL 2021 playoffs

The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) now have two chances of making it to the finale of the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

They have earned this right by finishing at the second spot in the standings and will be facing the Delhi Capitals on Sunday for the first qualifier of this edition of the league. 

However, the expectations around the team have comparatively dampened after their lean end to the group stages. CSK was cruising along the group stages, having collected nine victories in 11 games at one stage. Yet, three consecutive defeats have somewhat exposed certain drawbacks in the setup that can come back to haunt them towards the business end of the competition.

Combine that with the lethal form that the Delhi Capitals (DC) seems to be in and the concerns around the Yellow Army seem genuine currently. In this article, we try to address issues that the MS Dhoni-led setup might look to correct during the playoff stages.

Conceal the revealed weaknesses

This is the age of technology and it is especially prevalent in the world of cricket as well. Players are scanned meticulously by the backroom staff of the opposition and teams seem to have cracked a code to put a stop over CSK’s sublime batting unit this year.

The bouncers to Ruturaj Gaikwad, short-deliveries to Moeen Ali, containing Faf with left-armed slower bowlers and spinning a web around MS; teams have arguably employed these tactics to contain the CSK batsmen in recent games.

Now that these drawbacks are somewhat out in the open, it is important that CSK acknowledges them internally and devises a method to work around these issues.

They would have to be cautious yet proactive in their approach; cautious to not fall into the trap laid by the opposition and proactive to ensure that the safety that they practice doesn’t negatively influence the scoring rate. 

The fact that the opposition knows about your weaknesses is not a new thing in cricket. Most teams are well-briefed about their adversaries these days. However, developing a plan to avoid these tactics and steer your way to the desired result is what CSK needs to do. They certainly have the caliber to do so.

Moreover, it has also become quite prevalent by now that Gaikwad and Faf lay the bedrock of this CSK batting unit. Their roles become even more magnified against the express pace bowling of the Delhi Capitals as the two openers are arguably the best players against pace in Dhoni’s team currently.

One of them need to set their foot down and ensure that they bat for a pretty long duration of the innings. CSK have done well when one of the two openers have stayed on the crease until the fag end of the innings. That is solely because they have a deep batting order and that the set batsman can be complemented well by brief quick knocks from the other end.

This particularly mounts a significant lot of pressure on Gaikwad and Faf, but it is a small price to pay for the success that awaits them in the form of the IPL trophy.

Do the little things right

Actually, two of CSK’s three defeats were caused by very fine margins eventually. They were blown away by the Rajasthan Royals’ batting unit once, when MS admitted that even a score of 250 runs would have been insufficient with the way the Royals were batting.

Against Delhi, they did well to make a game out of a lost cause were actually doing well in the fag end until Krishnappa Gowtham dropped a catch off Shimron Hetmyer and handed the victory over to the Capitals.

CSK might remember that they lost the second of their two league stage encounters against Delhi in IPL 2020 because Shikhar Dhawan’s catches were dropped around four-five times by the fielders. To make sure that the fielding doesn’t slip up in such big games is of utmost necessity and CSK needs to be very wary of this fact.

Getting outclassed by the bat or the ball is imminent at some point in cricket. But to get outdone in the field should be unacceptable and no one surely places more importance to it than Dhoni as a skipper. It is of extreme importance that CSK does not repeat the errors like Gowtham did in the playoffs!

Bring Raina in

Suresh Raina has had a lukewarm IPL so far and was even replaced by Robin Uthappa in the final two group stage games. It was said that Raina had a niggle but looked more of an attempt to test Uthappa out who had warmed the bench for the first 12 games of the campaign.

However, it might do CSK good if they rope in Raina for the playoff stages. His best innings this year had come in the opening game against Delhi itself when the southpaw scored 54 runs off 36 deliveries to take the team to a respectable total of 188 runs.

Raina might blow hot or cold but is always in the lookout for runs. He isn’t afraid to take the bowlers on when the tides are against them and CSK needs to infuse some of that approach in their batting unit now. Raina plays a high-stakes game but when it pulls off, it ends up giving a brilliant result to the team.

The 34-year-old had even taken Delhi’s spinners like Ravichandran Ashwin and Amit Mishra to absolute cleaners in the aforementioned game. Axar Patel and Ashwin conceded only 38 runs in their combined eight overs in Delhi’s recent game vs Chennai. Delhi will be looking to again contain CSK in the middle-overs through their spin duo and Raina’s southpaw approach is much-needed to tackle this challenge.

Moreover, the playoffs are as much a battle of character and experience as it is of the skills. Raina has been one of the pillars of CSK’s successes over the years and has especially stepped up to the challenges in critical moments like the semis and the finals. This is CSK’s time to shine and they need their dear ‘Chinna Thala’ to get back in the mix of things for the same!

Written by Tarkesh Jha. Follow Tarkesh on Twitter