IPL 2022: What's next for CSK after a miserable season?
IPL 2022 was, by far, the worst season for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the league's history. They managed to cobble together only four victories before signing off from the tournament.
The failure in the 2020 season was an anomaly. Highly successful and consistent teams inevitably hit a trough or two, and so, a bad season was always around the corner after numerous successful ones.
At that point, it was easy for experts to come up with reasons for what went wrong, once they had seen the result, instead of simply putting it down to bad form and the vagaries of the sport.
The 2022 debacle, however, was the culmination of multiple glaring issues in the Chennai camp that were apparent from the very beginning.
What went wrong for Chennai this season?
Everything! Well, almost. Deepak Chahar, their big-ticket signing and powerplay specialist, injured his right quadricep a few weeks before the start of the tournament. Later on, a back injury put paid to any hopes of him returning in the middle of the season.
His absence meant that Chennai lost the incisiveness they liked to have in the powerplay. Adam Milne missed the entire season after featuring in the first game. Moeen Ali and Dwayne Bravo suffered minor injuries too, and missed a few games, but that wasn't too instrumental in how the season went.
With the bat, they had some really good innings, getting 200+ scores more times than any other team, but that was complemented by some abysmal days. The bowling attack rarely looked threatening enough, as was seen when one of the aforementioned 200+ totals was mowed down by Lucknow in CSK's second game.
The form of key players like Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Robin Uthappa, and Ambati Rayudu left a lot to be desired. Gaikwad managed to find some form towards the end but it was too late by then. Uthappa started off well, but couldn't sustain it for a significant chunk of the season.
Rayudu played a couple of good innings in the middle, but didn't start or finish the season well. This showcases why even CSK's batting, normally so reliable, wasn't able to carry them to a respectable spot on the points table.
Now, let's look at Jadeja, a man at the height of his powers as a cricketer. He was handed the captaincy this season, taking over from MS Dhoni, but he never looked the part.
The results weren't going his way, but it would be unfair to place any blame on him for that. The bigger issue was his personal form, which dipped like never before. He couldn't make any impact with either bat or ball. The captaincy was handed back to Dhoni midway through the season.
That kind of a drastic change mid-season is never ideal, even if the short history of the IPL suggests otherwise. Chennai is a team that thrives on stability, and this was far from stable.
Are there any positives?
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Teams and their fans will always clutch at straws to look for positives after a tough season, but CSK really do have a lot to look forward to next year. That is before they've even gotten a chance to make some changes to the squad.
Young Indian bowlers like Mukesh Choudhary and Simarjeet Singh were impressive in the second half of the season, especially in the powerplay. They have given CSK more options to choose from for that phase of the innings.
Matheesha Pathirana made an immediate impression with his slingy, Malinga-like action, and is expected to play a bigger role next season, mainly in the death overs. Maheesh Theekshana, the mystery spinner, did an excellent job at keeping the run rate under control while also picking up some crucial wickets.
Dwaine Pretorius showed glimpses of his hitting prowess down the order, and his experience with the ball proved handy in the death overs of a couple of games.
Shivam Dube had his best season yet, scoring 289 runs at a strike rate of 156.22. Devon Conway was a revelation, forming a wonderful partnership at the top of the order with Gaikwad. MS Dhoni had a couple of good outings as well, turning the clock back and giving fans something to cheer about.
CSK's blueprint for next season
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Dhoni has confirmed that he will return as captain next season, which is great news in the short term. But it brings them back to the question of who will fill those gigantic shoes in the future.
Jadeja seems to be better off without the burden of captaincy. Gaikwad seems to be a likely candidate, so you can expect him to start preparing for the job next season.
There were rumours of a rift between Jadeja and the CSK management, but those have been put to bed, and he will return next year. It'll be interesting to see how the likes of Dhoni and Bravo maintain their form and fitness for the next season, which is 10 months away.
In the auction, they'll certainly try to bring Sam Curran back into the fold, and maybe an Indian middle order option as well.
One thing fans can be certain about is that CSK will come back stronger. Under Stephen Fleming and MS Dhoni, they've built a culture that doesn't let players get too affected by setbacks and helps them bounce back. They did that in 2018 and 2021, so a precedent exists. Expect an encore.