Last Updated on 3 years by Charbel Coorey
Analysing the rise of CSK from IPL 2020 to 2021 | Looking at how CSK turned things around in IPL 2021 after a bad 2020 season
IPL 2020 was a horrific season for the Chennai Super Kings and their fans. The team looked in all-sorts for almost all the 14 games. It was the first time in 10 years that the Chennai Super Kings failed to qualify for the play-offs.
In the post match presentation after their last league match in 2020, Harsha Bhogle asked MS Dhoni if he has any message for the fans. Dhoni’s reply to this was “We’ll come back strong, that’s what we are known for.”
Almost a year later, CSK came back strong as promised.
CSK was the first team to be out of the play-offs race in 2020 and they are the first team in 2021 to have qualified for the play-offs. The way CSK bounced back after a disappointing campaign in IPL 2020 is truly applaudable.
CSK didn’t made a lot of changes to their squad after IPL 2020 instead they rectified a few things and made improvements in the areas where they lacked last season. Here we’ll talk about things that MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming did that helped CSK in making a strong comeback in IPL 2021.
Backing the Players
MS Dhoni is not known for making a lot of changes to playing 11 even if the team loses. Dhoni’s and Fleming’s backing to the players give them the much needed confidence and the sense of security that is needed for someone going through a bad phase. Even after a poor IPL 2020, Dhoni trusted his players and backed them to do well in IPL 2021.
Apart from releasing Kedar Jadhav and Harbhajan Singh, Shane Watson’s retirement, most of the squad remained the same for IPL 2021. One perfect example is Ruturaj Gaikwad who after struggling badly in his initial games in IPL 2020 found his mojo in the last three games of that season. He had a poor start in IPL 2021 as well but has been unbelievable since, with 508 runs in 12 games at an average of 50.80 and strike rate above 140.
Most of the teams would have made quite a few changes at least after how 2020 went for CSK. But Dhoni and Fleming trusted their players and made a few minor changes in the team combination in IPL 2021 which proved to be on point for them. Dhoni backing and trusting his players is nothing new and out of the box but it’s just one of those simple things that did the job for him and CSK this season.
Role Clarity
After IPL 2020, CSK brought in Moeen Ali which proved to be an extremely good signing. Moeen is a very destructive T20 batter but he wasn’t utilized well by franchises he played for and even the English cricket team in the shortest format. Moeen was asked to bat at number 3 for CSK even with Suresh Raina in the eleven who has been the number 3 batter for CSK for all these years.
Moeen at 3 proved to be a masterstroke for CSK as the southpaw has 278 runs in 10 games at an average of 27.8 and striking at 141. Moeen started attacking from ball one and completely shifted the momentum in CSK’s favor in a span of 2-3 overs. He solved CSK’s issue of batting slow in the middle-overs and was exceptional for them especially in the first-half of IPL 2021.
Suresh Raina despite being in poor form is a great player of spin bowling and Moeen at 3 allowed Raina to bat in the middle-phase where he’ll get to play more overs from the spinners and can attack them.
Ambati Rayudu was slotted to bat at 5 for CSK in IPL 2021 and he has played this role really well. He has been super aggressive and has played some really crucial knocks for CSK. Rayudu is a good player of spin bowling and can attack pacers as well. He has the license to play freely and has done his job with perfection. Rayudu has 195 runs at an average of 32.5 and is striking at an impressive 169.56!
The clear communication from players and role clarity that what the team wants from them is another simple yet very important thing CSK did perfectly in IPL 2021. MS Dhoni also utilized his resources really well and it proved to be match-winning for them.
Players played their roles really well as CSK has 7 different players winning man of the match out of their 9 wins in IPL 2021. This shows how trusting the players and having a clear communication with them can be very fruitful.
Batting Depth
The main reason for CSK’s poor performance in IPL 2020 was their batting. CSK batters failed to exploit the powerplay and were slow in the middle-overs as well. They also failed to finish the innings well and failed to chase targets due to this. But in IPL 2021 Dhoni and Fleming did something which was never done before.
They assembled a playing eleven which had a batting depth up to 10 or 11. Deepak Chahar bats at number 10 for CSK who is more than handy with the bat and if someday Dhoni decides to play both Sam Curran and Dwayne Bravo in the playing 11 then they’ll have a playing eleven where all of their 11 players will be capable of batting. This is the major change CSK did in IPL 2021 and is the biggest reason for their exceptional performance this season.
This mad level batting depth has allowed the batters to play freely and players like Moeen Ali and Ambati Rayudu have done exactly that. This also has allowed MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina who hasn’t been in good form with the bat to not become a liability to the team and play their natural game.
Here are CSK’s batting performance in different phases of an innings in IPL 2021:
Powerplay
Middle-Overs
Death Overs
The charts above show that CSK are still a little slow in the power play but they are not that slow when compared to the other teams. They score at almost the highest rate in the middle-overs and are on another level in the death overs scoring more than 12 runs per over. The batting depth allows flexibility and they can play according to the situation. This CSK batting can post huge totals and can chase big targets as well.
Captain MS Dhoni
MS Dhoni the captain has been invaluable for CSK in IPL 2021. Despite going through a poor form with the bat, Dhoni has played the most important role for CSK’s turnaround in IPL 2021. He is arguably the best white-ball captain in Cricket. Dhoni’s decision as captain to play Moeen at 3, Rayudu at 5, having a crazy batting depth up to number 10-11 proved to be the main reason for CSK’s success this year.
Obviously, Stephen Fleming too deserves all the appreciation as the coach of the team but Dhoni has been as usual brilliant in leading the team. His field placements on the field, rotation of bowlers, and most importantly the game awareness and knowing what needs to be done in a certain situation is CSK’s biggest strength. Having a smart captain like Dhoni has played a very crucial role for CSK over the years and their performance in this season shows his value as the captain when runs are not coming off his bat.
CSK management and the fans will hope that he lifts the trophy once again in 2021 and leads CSK to their 4th title.
Written by Robin Rounder. Follow Robin on Twitter today.
