Chennai Super Kings, the 4 times IPL Champions and the 2 times CLT20 Champions begun their journey in IPL 2022 against the finalists of last year IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders in the tournament opener on 26th March. On the back of MS Dhoni’s fighting half century CSK put on a fighting total in front of KKR and went down fighting, we went on to lose 4 straight games (including the 1st match against KKR) from there we needed our players to stand up for the team, that is exactly what the team did in their 5th match against The RCB where the legend of Robin Uthappa yet again stole the show, partnering with the young and dynamic Shivam Dube and via combined team effort CSK registered a resounding victory by 23 runs. After registering much needed victory in our 5th match we went against the inform table toppers Gujarat Titans with much needed confidence and the best thing that happened in that match was our opener Ruturaj Gaikwad (Orange Cap winner in IPL 2021 for scoring most runs in entire season) found back his form with a fighting half century and along side Ambatti Rayudu took CSK to a very good total in the first innings on a tricky wicket and as we moved ahead we had our grip firmly on the match as CSK kept the pressure on GT batsmen throughout the course of the run chase with regular wickets, however David Miller yet again showed his class under immense pressure and with the help of Rashid Khan’s breathtaking and clean hitting prowess in the 18th over (where he helped GT scored 25 runs), took his team over the line in the final over of the match.

CSK came into their 7th league match having won 1 and lost 5 matches, needless to say this was a must win game for CSK against their arch rivals Mumbai Indians, in this match the CSK bowlers proved their mettle against the formidable MI batting line up. In my opinion, the greatest middle and lower middle order batsman in white ball cricket history, the great MS Dhoni showed age is just a number once again and finished the match successfully yet again when odds were stacked heavily against CSK, with 16 required of final 4 balls of the match against the record 5 times IPL champions Mumbai Indians, there is a reason the whole wide world refers to CSK vs MI match as the El Classico of Indian Premier League. CSK registered a famous last ball victory, thanks largely to the former CSK captain MS Dhoni, and the star bowler of that night Mukesh who rattled MI’s top order with his consistent and lethal seam and swing bowling display and hence also won the Player of the match award. However even in victory the cause of concern for the team was poor fielding display, especially poor catching where even the captain of the side Ravindra Jadeja himself, who is considered as one of the best fielder in modern era dropped sitters to make matters worse for the team but we all know that CSK’s fielding standards are World class and having taken over CSK’s captaincy just this very year after MS Dhoni stepped down as the captain, Ravindra Jadeja is surely under immense pressure as he has the huge task of handling captaincy of the team, as one may understand it’s never easy to fill the boots of arguably the greatest white ball captain in the history of the game, MS Dhoni himself. So, he will only get back to his old self with time as he gets more familiar with his role as captain of the team. With 2 wins and 5 losses from our first 5 matches, it is needless to say that next 3-4 matches are all must win games for us and not only that, we have to win at least 2 out of those with big margin to negate our poor NRR.

As the tournament is reaching the business end all 3 departments have begun to show the signs of improvement when we talk about CSK. For us moving ahead in IPL 2022 each and every match is a must win and we cannot afford any loop holes from here. This Same team has won the tournament from similar circumstances back in 2010 and coincidentally after our first 7 games, we had won 2 and lost 5 matches, exactly similar to the circumstances this year, in the end we went on to win the IPL 2010 and there is no reason why we cannot repeat the history all over again. We believe in CSK and we will continue to believe in our side.

With first half of IPL 2022 league stage being over and as we prepare for the crucial second half, we keep in mind the words of the great MS Dhoni, “Process is more important than the result.” MS Dhoni passed the torch to Ravindra Jadeja as the captain of the side, as the most consistent and second most successful captain in IPL history, MS Dhoni is helping CSK prepare for the future when they will be without his services once he retires from IPL cricket. For 14 years CSK never had to bother about captaincy as they have had the services of MS Dhoni and sure his mere presence is enough to motivate the entire side and he might be present as a player for next 2 years yet it is important that Dhoni helped his successor learn the art of captaincy while he himself is present on the field to guide and nurture him and hence it was a brave call and sign of a true leader when Dhoni stepped down as the captain of CSK just days before the start of IPL 2022, after mega auction CSK lost few key players the likes of Faf Duplesis, Shardul Thakur, Josh Hazlewood, etc to name a few and those we retained or bought in auction even in between those Adam Milne and Deepak Chahar, our two key players got injured right before the start of the tournament and were unfortunately ruled out of the tournament hence disturbing the balance of the side, yet against all odds CSK haven’t given up and if the team can regroup from here then there is no stopping this team and history will certainly repeat itself all over again. So let us all Whistlepodu as The Namma XI prepare to go one on one against the Punjab Kings.

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