IPL 2020: What experts said as Virat Kohli’s Challengers down an ‘out of favour’ Chennai
Another day another loss another time Dhoni failed and so did the top order, another blame put on the captain, another set of trolling on the internet. This has been the pattern of the Chennai Super Kings’ playbook in the IPL 2020. The last one has to change first and definitely because the kind of trolling that the former Indian captain is being subjected to is just inhuman.
In Dubai, winning the toss and deciding to bat first didn’t go quite well for Kohli as the team lost wickets at regular intervals. However, the captain stood the test of time and not only hit a magnificent 90 off just 52 balls with four fours and an equal number of sixes but also made sure that the team reached a respectable total of 169, which looked impossible at one point when they were languishing at 93 for four in the 15th over.
In the bowling department too, the Royals were looking way better with the inclusion of Chris Morris, and with the help of the conditions, in which the pitch changed a bit in between the 40 overs, Virat’s side was able to put pressure on the Super Kings and they faltered courtesy those. This resulted in a huge victory of 37 runs for the Challengers improving their run rate immensely.
Captains’ Viewpoint
Speaking on this occasion, RCB skipper Kohli was delighted with the win and called it his team’s ‘one of our most complete performances.’
Describing the situation in the middle while he was batting as wickets were falling from the other end, Kohli said, “We got into a bit of a tricky position in the first half. From there on, we pushed forward. We spoke during the second timeout (with the bat) that 140-150 would be good, ended up getting more than that.” “It was a tricky pitch,” he added.
The 31-year-old further said that he was really pleased to get the two points and focussed on building momentum for the second game. “We have back-to-back games coming up, so important to build momentum. It's about understanding the conditions and respecting the game, instead of trying to hit every ball into the second tier of the stadium,” he said.
The Delhi born, who was not in the best of the forms coming into the tournament and also in the initial phase of it, said that the Super Over against Mumbai Indians helped him free up. “That Super Over where I had to strike, else we would have lost, freed me up. Training all these days also helped,” the captain said.
South African all-rounde4r Chris Morris hit form from the word go and hence was praised by the captain as well. “Yes, he's been really good, gun on the field and three wickets on debut. With him and Gurkeerat, the batting also gets deep,” Kohli said.
“When you get momentum in this format, it can be the difference between finishing at the top or at the bottom,” he concluded underscoring the importance of momentum.
It is often said that when the team doesn’t perform, a captain has a lot more to say than when it does. Similar has been the case with Chennai Super Kings’ captain MS Dhoni. With just two wins from seven games and his own form being quite forgetful, Dhoni has made words his weapon doing as critical an assessment of his team as possible, unfortunately, words don’t count but runs do.
Speaking the post-match presentation Dhoni said, “I think the last 4 overs when we were bowling (didn't go to plan), before that the bowlers had done a good job, we needed to close it nicely.” “Batting has been a bit of a worry and today also it was evident. We need to do something about it,” he added.
Batting indeed has been a thing to worry about as in all the five games that the team lost, apart from the Rajasthan game, most of them have been due to the failure in batting.
Presenting a new vision going forward in the tournament, the Ranchi-born said that his team isn’t here just to participate and therefore would put in all the efforts possible to get a result in their favour.
“We can't just keep turning up... it is almost the same thing that is happening maybe the individuals are different but I think we are better off playing the other way round - play the big shots and even if you get out it is fine because we can't leave too many after the 15th or 16th over that just puts too much pressure on the lower order batsmen,” he said.
“We have not been able to adapt and plan for bowlers bowling from 6-14 overs,” he added.
The captain got philosophical in the assessment saying that dwelling in the past or daydreaming about the future would end up pushing his team in deeper trenches, from where coming back would not be easy at all.
“I always have told the players to focus more on the process. When you start looking at the results of the previous game or the next game it really puts an extra burden on you,” said Dhoni.
Everybody makes great assessments. Dhoni too has said many things which were very good while assessing the performance of his team. But what he said today touched many as it actually summed up the entire season for the Super Kings.
“I feel when it comes to our bowling we have shown we can restrict the opposition, either we give too many in the first six or the last four. Too many holes in the ship and when you try to plug one there is water flowing from another,” he reflected upon the performances so far.
“We need to get our act together. Everything needs to work in the same game to get a result. Once we get a result in our favour it will be slightly different for us,” added the 39-year-old.
“In the coming games we will be slightly more expressive, get out in the 17th over rather than having wickets,” Dhoni revealed the strategy of the team for further games.
Expert Opinion
The cricket experts were although impressed by Dhoni’s honest assessment of his team’s performance, to them, the ship for Chennai Super Kings seem to have sailed. Veteran expert Ayaz Memon while sharing his thoughts on the game said that it would be difficult for Dhobi's side to make a comeback from such a 'hopeless' situation.
Harsha Bhogle, another cricket expert and commentator threw in an idea for Chennai Super Kings to sign Ajinkya Rahane to play the role of a solid number-3 for the team.
Cricketer turned commentator and analyst Aakash Chopra took the topic to another but valid point as he asked fans to not become so inhuman as to troll a player and team to such an extent that the platform of Twitter becomes toxic for them.
Boria Majumdar, senior cricket expert summed up the entire RCB victory saying that now the Virat Kohli led team has found a good balance.
For Vimal Kumar, a cricket journalist himself, it was a matter of putting forth his views ion MS Dhoni saying that the long sabbatical that the skipper took from cricket after the 2019 World Cup has impacted his play.
Overall, it wasn't at all a satisfactory performance by the Super King sand as Dhoni said, they need to bring out their best when they face Sunrisers Hyderabad on 13th October. The Challengers though would like to continue building on the momentum, as their leader Virat Kohli had pointed. They face an in-form Kolkata Knight Riders in their next game on Monday, 12th October.
 "Sayantan Bhattacharjee")
