Random Ramblings of a Reluctant Blogger

The ageing legs of the Chennai Super Kings are unable to keep up with the younger lot. Yes the Dad’s army had twice in the past surprised critics with lifting the trophy. But this time around, at the halfway stage of the IPL 2022, the reality has come home to bite.

Fans and critics alike are on the same page when they point out  that the team lost it on the auction table itself.

In fact, two of the most successful teams with nine titles between them, both languishing at the bottom, seemed keen to assemble their tried and tested players, while the other teams were only too keen to start afresh. Fan connect or auction dynamics or whatever you may call it the two marquee teams did miss a trick or two at the auction.

Having said that, games are won on the field and CSK had had a knack of doing just that. Unfortunately this time around the team seems to have lost the mojo (probably left it at the auction table itself) and is having a nightmarish season thus far.

Having put all its pace eggs in one basket in Deepak Chahar and his subsequent unavailability has hurt the team no end. That doesn’t, however, provide any excuse for the mess it is in right now. Tearaway pacers were never in CSK’s scheme of things and yet the team had found the right resources to make a mark. That, now, is missing. While many youngsters in other teams are lighting up the tournament, the youngsters in the CSK camp are still trying to find their feet, while the battle-scarred veterans haven’t hit the groove.  And form, the fickle mistress that she is, has chosen this very moment to abandon them.

While the die-hard fans and the statisticians would be crunching numbers to see the permutations and combinations for the team to make the playoffs, the real challenge is to string a few wins.

Teams that have had a headstart have more or less solved their jigsaw puzzle of team combination with the right players in the right spots, barring a few pieces here and there.

And for CSK to still make a tournament of it, a complete overhaul of personnel is needed. It has to, perforce, unscramble the puzzle and start afresh. Not much time? What else does the team have to lose?

Pushed as it is to a corner, CSK has no choice but to throw all the punches….and hope it lands!