IPL 2020: How Chennai Super Kings (CSK) ended their 5-match losing streak against Mumbai Indians
A different country, a different month, changed timings, no crowds, there is nothing similar but what matters is that the IPL is back. And we couldn’t have asked for a better match to kick things off. It was the El Classico of the IPL, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings (last year’s finalists and two teams that share seven IPL titles) squaring off in the first game of the IPL 2020 season.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have been one of the most successful sides in the history of the IPL. However, if there is one record that they won’t want to look at is their win-loss ratio against Mumbai Indians (MI). Against every other opposition, CSK have a win percentage of 50% or more. But against MI, before the first game of this season, they had a win percentage of 39.29% (a win-loss record of 11-17) from 28 matches.
Also Read: IPL 2020, Match 1 – Mumbai Indians v Chennai Super Kings – CSK prevail as MI suffer 8th successive loss in opening matches
In fact, before this game, they were on a losing streak of five games and hadn’t won against the Rohit Sharma-led side since their thrilling win in their return game in 2018, including four losses in 2019. Hence, the odds were slightly against CSK going into the opening game of 2020.
However, they came out triumphant. Here are some factors which helped CSK to end their losing streak against the four-time champions.
Faf du Plessis’ magic in the field and maturity with the bat
Faf du Plessis was absolutely amazing in the field for Chennai Super Kings in their opening encounter of the IPL 2020 season | Image Courtesy: iplt20.com
CSK were a bit spoilt for choice as far as their overseas players are concerned. But with Suresh Raina not available for the entire season and Ruturaj Gaikwad still suffering from COVID-19, CSK had to go with experience at the top of the order. Hence, they opted to go for Faf du Plessis instead of the veteran leg-spinner Imran Tahir. And the former South African captain was one of the major factors in CSK’s win over MI in this first game.
Du Plessis is a gun fielder and can literally field anywhere on the park. However, he patrols the boundary during the end stages and invariably saves quite a few runs. This game was no different. He not only saved runs but took a couple of blinders to turn the game on its head.
In the 15th over, Ravindra Jadeja came on to bowl and the well-set Saurabh Tiwary decided to launch him over long-on but du Plessis timed his jump to perfection and tossed the ball up as he overbalanced and caught it again. A couple of later, the dangerous Hardik Pandya smashed one straight down the ground and du Plessis moved to his right in no time and once again timed his jump to perfection to grab a stunner. He later went on to take another catch, which was much simpler.
With the bat, du Plessis didn’t open the batting, something that he usually does for CSK. He walked out at No. 3 and played a mature hand. CSK were 6/2 in no time and Ambati Rayudu had started fluently. All du Plessis did was bat through and just feed the strike to Rayudu and score the odd boundary. He finished unbeaten on 58 off 44 balls and finished the game for CSK.
Ambati Rayudu’s return to form
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The last time Ambati Rayudu stepped on a cricket field was back in November 2019. Since then, he did not play any cricket. Moreover, his form looked iffy as well and had been out of India’s white-ball plans as well. However, coming to bat at 6/2, Rayudu took CSK to safe waters along with du Plessis.
He took his time early on and reached 10 off 12 balls, scoring a couple of boundaries. It was the last over the powerplay (bowled by Jasprit Bumrah) that got him going. The Hyderabad cricketer scored a four and a six off a free-hit and raced to 20 off 14 deliveries. And since then, he continued in good tempo. He rotated the strike nicely and kept finding the fence regularly.
Rayudu brought up his half-century in 34 balls and eventually finished with 71 from 48 balls with six fours and three sixes. It was an innings that was in stark contrast to his entire 2019 IPL season where he scored 282 runs at a strike-rate of 93.06. He took the pressure off du Plessis who could play second fiddle to perfection and Rayudu timed the chase pretty well, setting up the game for the lower middle-order to hunt it down.
Picking Sam Curran over Imran Tahir and other overseas players.
Sam Curran was one of CSK’s big buys in the auction this time around. His stocks have constantly been on the rise and is a utility cricketer. However, CSK had quite a few overseas options and with the IPL moving to UAE, it suits the leg-spin of Imran Tahir and the variations of Dwayne Bravo a lot more. Josh Hazlewood has been in good form as well and has come to the IPL on the back of a fruitful ODI series in England.
However, Curran was picked ahead of the experienced players. While Bravo has had troubles with his knee recently and may have not been fully fit, it was a big call to leave the 2019 Purple Cap winner Tahir or the in-form Hazlewood out. But Curran came to the party big time and he was involved in the game almost all the time. He removed the dangerous Quinton de Kock early on, took a couple of catches and even played a superb six-ball cameo.
Thus, the move paid off and Curran proved his worth.
MS Dhoni’s decision to promote Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran
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When Rayudu fell, 42 runs were still required off the last fours overs. Everyone expected the CSK skipper MS Dhoni to walk out. These were situations and circumstances that he has mastered over the years. However, he pulled a bunny out of his hat as he sent Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran up the order. While Jadeja walked out to bat at 5, Curran came in at 6.
Jadeja came out swinging and hit a couple of boundaries before he was trapped by Krunal Pandya. But Sam Curran took full toll of the left-arm spinner bowling the 18th over. He smashed a six and a four against Pandya before hitting Bumrah for another six in the 19th over to kill the contest. While Curran was out next ball, he had done the job, scoring 18 off 6.
It was a move that MS Dhoni said it was planned and the two left-handed all-rounders weren’t really sent in as pinch-hitters as such.
“One thing we haven’t done is giving a chance to Jadeja and Curran to come up the order and express themselves which is what we did today. It was a psychological thing of saying that okay, we have batsmen down, so we’ll send one or two of them up to hit a few,” the CSK skipper said in the post-match presentation.
Good comeback by CSK bowlers in the death
CSK didn’t have a great start to the game and they looked rusty. There were misfields and the bowlers didn’t seem on. However, they came back really well at the death. At one stage, MI were 121/3 in 14 overs and 170-180 looked on the cards with Hardik Pandya at the crease and the likes of Kieron Pollard and Krunal Pandya still in the dugout.
However, Dhoni used his bowlers smartly and they executed their plans well. Jadeja’s double-wicket over removing Tiwary and Hardik turned the tide and the pacers backed it up. Lungi Ngidi who conceded 29 runs in his first two overs returned with figures of 2-0-9-3 at the death. Curran went for 11 runs in the 18th over but Chahar bowled a good 20th over, conceding just six runs.
In the last six overs, MI scored 41/6 and completely lost the plot. The CSK bowlers fought back well and it was one of the factors that helped CSK end their drought against MI.