CHENNAI Super Kings have an ageing squad, with many on the wrong side of 30. Even then, many expect them to advance to the play-offs because of their spinners. On home conditions in Chennai, it is the tweakers that MS Dhoni looks to in the powerplays. Need a wicket, turn to spinners. Need to control the run flow, go to a spinner. And in the UAE, where conditions are suited for spinners, Chennai, with plenty of depth in spin department, were supposed to continue the trend.
But that hasn’t been the story so far. With Piyush Chawla in the mix now, Chennai took the bold call of leaving Imran Tahir in the bench. With Sam Curran’s all-round abilities needed to lend balance and a pacer — Lungi Ngidi/Josh Hazlewood — taking the other slot, they believed fielding Indian spinners would allow them to paper over cracks. However, it has only made their campaign tougher as Chennai suffered a 44-run defeat to Delhi Capitals on Friday.
Sample these numbers in the three matches against Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Capitals. Ravindra Jadeja: 4-0-42-2, 4-0-40-0, 4-0-44-0; Chawla: 4-0-21-1, 4-0-55-1, 4-0-33-2. The duo have accounted for only five wickets in three matches, meaning Chennai have not been able to make inroads in the middle overs and have left the job to their seamers, who can be taken for runs at the death. On Friday against Delhi, they managed to limit the damage.
From 88/0 in 10 overs, DC could only add 87 in the next 10 for the loss of three wickets as Chennai didn’t concede a single six. Delhi had only themselves to blame. Prithvi Shaw (64) and Shikhar Dhawan (35), who put on 94 for the first wicket in 10.4 overs, departed in succession leaving Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer to be cautious at the start. The duo tried to break the shackles, but the one big over they were looking for, never came.
However, 175 proved good enough for Delhi as Chennai’s top-order failed to deliver once again. Delhi fielders, Shimron Hetmyer in particular, were sloppy. Hetmyer dropped two catches .
Brief scores: Delhi 175/3 in 20 ovs (Shaw 64, Pant 37 no, Dhawan 35; Chawla 2/33) vs Chennai 131/7 in 20 ovs (Du Plessis 43).