CSK make the playoffs, and the IPL seems normal again
For the past three seasons, the IPL has not felt normal. In 2020, it was played exclusively in a bubble in the UAE. It tried to bring back the tournament to India in 2021 but once the cases rose and COVID-19 permeated the IPL, it had to be relocated to the UAE.
2022 was slightly better, with regulated crowds coming in and matches being played in India. Yet, the entire IPL was held in Maharashtra, making home support pretty much redundant for most sides.
Looking at all of those aspects, 2023 was supposed to be different. The home-and-away format was back, and franchises would now have thousands of fans shouting for their team to do well. It was, in many ways, what made the IPL what it is today, and to relive that, after the uncertainty of 2020-2022, seemed a victory in itself.
While the IPL was shunting from one bubble to another, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) found it a little tough to be as consistent as they usually were. They missed out on the playoffs in 2020 and 2022.
In 2021, they did win the entire thing but the fact that they did not qualify two years out of three made everyone question if CSK, and to an extent, MS Dhoni, were losing their touch.
Cut to 2023, and here CSK are in the playoffs again and plotting what could be another route to a title.
Unlike what many predicted, this season, they have not quite dominated Chepauk as they once used to. In fact, they won only four times out of seven, with the rest of their victories coming on the road.
Akin to countless previous seasons, though, they did find a way to make their team tick. On paper, they perhaps do not look as strong as some of the others, but they sit proudly in the second spot and seem favorites to contest Qualifier 1 against the Gujarat Titans.
Dhoni has done Dhoni things at the end of an innings. Ravindra Jadeja has been a game-changer across suits. Two CSK openers (Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad) have thrived under pressure and have laid down markers, irrespective of the conditions. And two individuals (Ajinkya Rahane and Shivam Dube) have enjoyed remarkable redemption arcs.
Oh, and among all of this, they have unearthed another uncapped Indian fast-bowling resource (Tushar Deshpande), trusted two Sri Lankans (Maheesh Theekshana and Matheesha Pathirana) who might appear wildcards to the majority, and used Deepak Chahar in such fashion that his ring-rust has not shown.
In short, this campaign has illustrated everything good CSK have done over the years, and this season has only proven why they remain such a successful outfit, year after year.
But this article is not about extensively debating what CSK have done right this season, or where they still lack. It is about putting their record into perspective, and how when that happens, the IPL seems complete, for an IPL season, without CSK really making a splash, just feels a little broken.
CSK reached the IPL playoffs for a record 12th time
Of course, that is not how rival teams and their fans might see it. But when a team qualifies 12 times (out of 14), it means they are doing something right, and they are perhaps as much a feature in the playoffs as the furniture found in most of these lavish franchise offices.
When the tournament was moving from pillar to post, bubble to bubble, and trying to recapture the magic that made it what it is, CSK, rather poetically, were also struggling. No direct correlation exists, but the link is too uncanny to have no bearing at all, either.
There is a reason why jokes are often made on social media about how the IPL is a tournament where seven (now nine) sides compete to meet CSK in the playoffs. This is not arrogance, and this is most certainly not an entitlement. It is just the quiet confidence that when the playoffs come around, the four-time champions will be there.
How they have gotten there is usually tough to decipher, for how they extract every ounce of performance from every prominent player remains a mystery for many. But they are there.
Yes, the home-and-away format, crowds coming back in, and runs being scored at breakneck speed – make the IPL feel just like it was before the world knew about COVID-19. But before the world knew COVID-19, CSK would qualify every season as well.
And that is what makes IPL 2023 feel normal.