5 things we miss dearly in IPL 2016

This hasn’t been the best of years for the Indian Premier League. Coming on the back of match-fixing scandals, the suspension of two teams which were crowd favourites and the frenzied T20 World Cup, the IPL hasn’t managed to grab the eyeballs that it would, by default, most years.

It didn’t help that Mumbai, probably the most vociferous of all IPL venues had to be abandoned because of the drought in Maharashtra, another unforeseen situation that has adversely affected the IPL although the jury is out on whether the IPL is to blame for this.

Amidst all these controversies, cricket has been reduced to a mere sideshow. But things could have been okay, if the cricket’s quality was high as audiences return in the latter part of the tournament. Despite being one of the more closely contested seasons, in terms of points table, IPL hasn’t really been as charming as it was expected to be. We look at 5 things we’ve missed dearly this season.

Chennai Super Kings

Chennai Super Kings was probably the team with the biggest fanbase in the IPL. CSK are also IPL’s most successful team making it to the playoffs regularly and winning both the IPL trophy and the Champions League. The absence of CSK has taken something massive out of the IPL. The yellow-clad CSK players are known for their fighting instinct, and under MS Dhoni, had pulled many a victory from the jaws of defeat.

CSK players mostly went either to Rising Pune Supergiants or Gujarat Lions. Suresh Raina has led Lions with some élan but the Supergiants led by Dhoni have struggled. Dhoni has been a shadow of himself and so has been Ravichandran Ashwin. Dhoni’s team has also been afflicted with injuries losing key players like Kevin Pietersen, Steve Smith, Faf du Plessis and Mitchell Marsh.

While Lions have been reasonably successful, they lack the aura of CSK under Dhoni. It doesn’t help that Raina hasn’t exactly set the IPL on fire with his batting. Pune do not even play at home as their matches have been shifted to Vizag, after the drought issues in Maharashtra. They weren’t good performers at home either.