The cash rich and one of the most popular tournaments across the world is all set to begin from 19, September in UAE. CSK is one of the most consistent teams in the IPL history. All eyes will be on MS Dhoni as he is set to return to competitive cricket after a gap of almost 1 year.
Let's have a look at the SWOT analysis of CSK:
Squad:
Ambati Rayudu , KM Asif, Deepak Chahar, Dwayne Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir, Jagadeesan Narayan, Karn Sharma, Kedar Jadhav, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Santner, Monu Singh, MS Dhoni, M Vijay, Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shane Watson, Shardul Thakur, Suresh Raina, Sam Curran, Piyush Chawla, Josh Hazlewood, R Sai Kishore
Strengths:
When CSK returned to the 2018 IPL after completing their 2-year ban everyone sarcastically called them "Dads's Army". But, they proved everyone wrong by clinching 2018 IPL title and showed us "Age is just a number". Their squad has vast experience and that proved to be one of their strength from the past two years.
CSK has got a good blend of youth and experience. The ability of MSD to bring the best out of every player remains one of the key factors in the success of CSK over the years. CSK has got a great spin bowling options in their current squad in the form of Imran Tahir, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Mitchell Santner, and Piyush Chawla.
As conditions in the UAE are pretty much favourable to the spinners, the spin bowling department remains one of their strengths. CSK players have always performed exceedingly well when it comes to knockout matches. It will be interesting to see how they cope up with the conditions in UAE.
Weaknesses:
The main concern that will remain in front of every franchise is lack of match practices. Because of COVID-19 pandemic all international matches were called off since March. Players have got very less opportunity to practice outdoors. Players need some kind of match practice to get back into the groove before the start of IPL 2020 season.
MS Dhoni is set to return after the gap of almost one year. He last represented Indian team when India lost to New Zealand in 2019 WC semi-final. Suresh Raina is also coming back from injury. Raina last represented CSK in 2019 IPL final when they lost to MI.
The South African players will miss the first half of this IPL season because of COVID-19 pandemic. Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir and Lungi Ngidi these are the three south Africans who will miss first half of IPL.
Opportunities:
CSK have a really balanced squad. The inclusion of Suresh Raina, Sam Curran, Piyush Chawla, Josh Hazlewood and R Sai Kishore gives a whole lot of bowling options to Mahendra Singh Dhoni. As discussed earlier the pitches in UAE will help spinners a lot.
The inclusion of Piyush Chawla will strengthen the spin department of CSK. when we look at the past record of Chawla playing for various franchise it is fair to say that CSK have got a really good player on their side. With the new ball Deepak Chahar has proved to be very lethal in the past few editions. He has got a really good ability to swing the ball both ways and he will make life difficult for the batters in the middle.
CSK has got a really good Englishman on their side in the form of Sam Curran. The left armer has got the ability to deceive the batsman with the slower ones and leg cutters and with the bat also he can play a vital role in the CSK unit. R sai kishore is the player to watch out for in this IPL season.
Threats:
CSK have always relied on their opening batters, but in the last edition their top order looked fragile. Faf du Plessis, Shane Watson and Suresh Raina failed to deliver consistent performance in the last edition.
These three players needs to perform consistently this year, otherwise their middle order will be exposed too soon. As discussed earlier, three of the South African players will be unavailable in the first half of IPL. That will remain one of the threat to their team. Chennai Super Kings needs to get their team combination right at the start of the tournament.
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