3 reasons why CSK should bring Shardul Thakur back into their playing 11
It's very rare that a side like Chennai Super Kings (CSK), despite being so sound with their tactical nuances, gets sussed by their opponents in assessing the conditions. But this did happen to the Ruturaj Gaikwad-led side against SunRisers Hyderabad on Friday (April 5) as they couldn't account for the magnitude of the slowness of the surface.
With the black soil, it was always going to be a tough challenge for the batters in the middle overs. This made powerplay utilization to its fullest mandatory against the new ball. CSK batted cautiously (48/1) while SRH raced away to 78/1 in the same phase, killing the game in the powerplay.
While the batting line-up of both teams in the middle overs struggled to get going against the softer ball, the CSK bowlers apart from Moeen Ali (playing his first game of the season) were unimpressive.
That being said, the Chennai Super Kings have a certain Shardul Thakur on their bench whose inclusion in the playing XI might solve many problems for them.
We give you three reasons why Shardul Thakur's inclusion in the Chennai Super Kings's playing XI might be the missing piece of their jigsaw puzzle.
#3 Chennai Indian pace bowling resources lack tooth
CSK's Indian pace bowling has been a letdown so far in all phases of the game. Deepak Chahar, who has been trusted to extract any juice from the surface to swing the ball up front, has given up runs at an economy of 9.63 so far.
Tushar Deshpande has blown hot and cold in four matches, picking only two wickets at an economy of 8.68, which doesn't inspire any confidence in the side.
Bringing Shardul Thakur into the XI might solve the powerplay and middle-over issues of CSK, as he not only can move the ball upfront (bowling SR of 22 with an economy of 8.39) but can also bowl the heavy ball to trouble the batters.
#2 Shardul brings experience to the table
The majority of Chennai pacers have been wayward with their lengths. This might not be because of a lack of skills but because of a lack of temperament when playing in a big tournament like the IPL.
Shardul has been in the CSK set-up before as well and knows how the team operates. With his knack for taking wickets and tons of experience on his side, Shardul can bring calmness to bowling.
#1 Adds batting depth to the side
With a batting line-up already this fierce, Chennai Super Kings batsmen have been surprisingly holding up a bit in their approach on occasions.
The form of certain players like skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ravindra Jadeja might be one of the reasons for this conservative approach, and this calls for the inclusion of Shardul Thakur in the XI.
Shardul's batting abilities (T20 SR: 140.44) have never been in doubt, and the team can use him as a floater to up the ante with no value to his wicket.