"They don't have any Indian spin-bowling option, barring Ravindra Jadeja, who will play in the XI" - Aakash Chopra on CSK's weakness ahead of IPL 2024
Aakash Chopra has picked spin bowling as the Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) potential weakness heading into IPL 2024.
The Chennai-based franchise relied on Ravindra Jadeja, Maheesh Theekshana, Moeen Ali and Mitchell Santner to perform the spin-bowling duties in IPL 2023. With 20 scalps at a reasonable economy rate of 7.56, Jadeja was their most successful spinner last season.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra opined that spin bowling might become the Chennai Super Kings' Achilles heel in IPL 2024.
"There are slight concerns in the spin department. They don't have any Indian spin-bowling option, barring Ravindra Jadeja, who will play in the XI. They have Prashant Solanki but they don't play him," he reasoned (8:30).
While observing that CSK will rely more on their overseas spinners, the former India opener claimed that Jadeja is least effective in the T20 format.
"So there is more pressure on the overseas contingent, that they should do more spin bowling, which, in my opinion, is not the greatest of things. The best of Ravindra Jadeja comes in Test cricket. After that, ODI cricket and I keep Jadeja's T20 bowling at the bottom in that list. Of course, the captain gets the best out of him," Chopra stated.
While acknowledging that MS Dhoni extracts the best out of Maheesh Theekshana, Chopra wasn't sure whether Mitchell Santner and Moeen Ali would be used much with the ball.
"Maheesh Theekshana is a very decent bowler. MS Dhoni uses him extremely well but he is an okay bowler. Then they have an issue about whether they should play Mitchell Santner or not. They didn't get Moeen Ali to bowl at all in the last four or five matches last year," he observed.
Apart from Prashant Solanki, CSK have Nishant Sindhu and Ajay Mandal as Indian spin-bowling options. However, it might be difficult to accommodate either of them in the XI, especially considering that both have similar skill sets as Jadeja.
"They have a lot of fast bowling options available" - Aakash Chopra doesn't see seam bowling as a concern for CSK
![Tushar Deshpande was CSK's highest wicket-taker in IPL 2023. [P/C: iplt20.com]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2024/03/6497b-17102162993001-1920.jpg?w=500)
On the flip side, Aakash Chopra reckons the Chennai Super Kings' seam-bowling department is not an area of concern.
"I feel the fast bowling is decent. They have Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande and Shardul Thakur. Then Mukesh Choudhary is fit this time and they have Simarjeet Singh, Matheesha Pathirana and Mustafizur Rahman. So they have a lot of fast bowling options available. So they don't have any such concerns," he elaborated (8:15).
Tushar Deshpande, with 21 scalps, was CSK's most successful bowler in IPL 2023. Matheesha Pathirana and Deepak Chahar accounted for 32 dismissals between them last season and the franchise will hope that the injury-prone duo are fit and available for the entire season.