CHENNAI: On the second ball of the final over during the Chennai Super Kings innings against Punjab Kings, Shivam Dube muscled Arshdeep Singh to the leg side boundary for a four. In the context of the match, it was a much needed four after the slow down.
Zoom out a little, and the scoreboard read 201/5 with the 31,000-strong crowd on their feet cheering on the Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. The crowd had understood their assignment. But more importantly, they had waited almost two years to see Chennai post a 200-plus total. To be precise, 705 days.
The last time CSK posted a 200-plus total at their home venue, a fortress once upon a time, was on April 28, 2024 against Sunrisers Hyderabad. In the time since, they spent heavily on pairing Noor Ahmad, R Ashwin with Ravindra Jadeja only for Chepauk to become a batting paradise. The yellow team had shelled out `37.75 crores for the three spinners and it cost them dearly. A horror 2025 followed as the five-time champions — known for dominating on spinning tracks of Chepauk —- finished at the bottom of the table.
One of the reasons for their struggles, according to the team management, was not having any home advantage for the team they had put together in Chennai. Super Kings continued to build a spin-heavy line-up but pitches remained batting friendly after relaying of the surfaces post the 2019 season. In the three years that followed, Super Kings did not play at Chepauk. Though they sealed the title in 2023, CSK won only four out of seven at home. In 2024, they won five in Chennai and it went down to just one game (out of six) last year.
The displeasure only grew as head coach Stephen Fleming came out and said they have no advantage at Chepauk. “Well, as we’ve been telling you for a number of years, there was no home advantage at Chepauk,” Fleming had said. “We’ve won away from home a couple of times. And we haven’t been able to read… we’ve been really honest with you. We haven’t been able to read the wickets here in the last couple of years. So, it’s not new. We are trying to come to grips each day with what we get, and we don’t know,” he added.
They had made some moves midway signing Ayush Mhatre and Dewald Brevis as injury replacements. Come the mini auction, they had no choice but to hit the reset button. Ashwin was let go. Jadeja was traded off, along with Sam Curran, to bring in Sanju Samson. With the freed up purse, CSK went big on two uncapped explosive domestic batters — Prashant Veer and Kartik Sharma. Both the players went for `14.2 crore each as Fleming acknowledged the need to revamp and change the batting line-up to post big totals. Sarfaraz Khan came as a last minute signing at `75 lakh and Chennai had their order sorted to complement skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad at the top and Shivam Dube in the middle.
Brevis' injury came as a blow ahead of the 2026 season and CSK struggled on a seaming pitch in Guwahati. But come Friday, Chennai finally got to play the line-up they assembled for flatter Chennai pitches. It was the same surface that saw India post 256/4 against Zimbabwe during the T20 World Cup. Such a total is what was needed on this pitch, especially with the dew kicking in, but Chennai had to take the first steps.
Samson fell early, Gaikwad did not have momentum, but the newcomers showed why CSK needed them. Mhatre, already becoming a crowd favourite in Chennai, smashed 73 off 43 balls. Veer and Sharma could not kick on, but Sarfaraz lit up the stage in front of his father. The Mumbaikar, who looks leaner, meaner and stronger, used his wide range of shots to hit 32 off just 12 balls, setting it up for Dube (45 n.o off 27) to go big at the end.
Friday showed glimpses of what this batting line-up could do when they get going. And as Gaikwad said on the eve of the match, they could get better as the tournament progresses.
