IPL 2019: Are CSK being over-dependent on Dhoni?
26 required off the final over and the next five balls read 4, 6, 6, 2, 6. The man doing all the hammering was none other than Mahendra Singh Dhoni and by the time he hit the fifth ball for six, the match seemed to be in the grasps for CSK. But Umesh Yadav, who had a nightmarish last over till then, bowled a slower one outside off and Dhoni's blade missed the ball. Parthiv Patel, showing nerves of steel, effected a direct-hit and Shardul Thakur was run-out by an inch; RCB survived. It was ironical that a man who hit 24 off five deliveries and almost pulled off the impossible, could not get two in the last ball. A game of glorious uncertainties indeed.
While Dhoni's innings of 84* off 48 balls got CSK closer and almost snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, the lackluster batting from the rest of the players was the major reason for the defeat. And this one-man show by Dhoni was not the first time this season, which is quite uncharacteristic for a team like CSK, who are known for having contributions from the whole team.
CSK sit comfortably at the top of the Indian Premier League table with 14 points from 10 games. But there is a serious weakness in the team, something which was considered their strength before the start of the season; their batting. The victorious campaign of 2018 had four batsmen with 450 plus runs in the season, which meant the batting order fired in unison. The likes of Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, and Dhoni all performed throughout the season.
Cometh 2019, Watson, barring a match-winning 44 against Delhi, has been a pale shadow of himself, Rayudu is on a prolonged lean patch and Raina has been uncharacteristically slow. Even Kedar Jadhav, who is known for his natural stroke play, has a strike rate below 100. All of the top six batsmen except Dhoni and Faf Du Plessis average less than 25 and have strike rates below 120. Of course, the slow nature of the home pitch has much to do with the strike rates, but they have not fared any better in the away games on better batting surfaces too.
Watson averages 14.7 and has a strike rate 112.21 and has failed to provide good starts for quite a while now. Raina, despite a match-winning 58 against KKR, averages just over 23 and has a strike rate 116.94, which is about 20 less than his career strike rate. Rayudu has probably been the biggest disappointment with an average of 24 and a strike rate of 91 in 10 games. He is quite lucky to have held onto his place till now with that scoring rate. Jadhav averages 20.71 and has a strike rate of 98.63. More often than not, they have got stuck in the middle overs and apart from Dhoni, no single batsman has been able to stay on the crease till the death.
Dhoni has hit the most sixes for CSK (17), followed by Faf (7), while the combined sixes from the other four is 19. Though apart from Watson all of them has at least one fifty under their belts, there has been a serious lack of consistency. The under-performing batsmen have neither runs nor strike rates to show even after playing all 10 games and it is high-time CSK make some tough calls.
Most of their wins have either been scripted by the bowlers or been due to the Dhoni-factor, while performances from the other batsmen being few and far between. Going into the business end of the tournament, the yellow-brigade would want more contributions from their experienced batters in order to obtain a top-two finish.
Bringing in Shorey and Billings for Watson and Rayudu might be something the management should give a thought. Shorey can be tried at the top with Faf and Billings' style of play can do the team a world of good by providing the much-needed acceleration in the middle order. No doubt the seven wins have overshadowed the under-performing batting order, but with the crucial stage of the tournament approaching, such a huge chink cannot be left exposed.
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