The Rise of Chennai Super kings-2018 Champions

 

CSK After Returning from Suspension became Champions by defeating all Odds

Rewind a couple of months back to the IPL Auctions and you saw experts rating the CSK side 4 or 5 on a scale of 10. They had a large number of aged players in their side. Most players were well past their prime, including the skipper.

How did they lift the IPL trophy on 27 May despite being against all odds? How did they even manage to reach the finals? Let us go right back to the team retention.

Trusting The Players and Retaining Core:

CSK and MS Dhoni can never be thought of separately. The veteran had to be back to his adopted home once the franchise returned to action. The owners did as expected by retaining the three core Indian players - Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja. Not only that, they brought back the coaching staff too. And bringing in Mike Hussey and L Balaji resulted in another masterstroke. The support staff gelled well with the team as they had already been a part of the franchise previously.

Believed In Experienced Players:

The average age of their squad was 33. This was why most experts regarded them as an ageing side who might not be able to make it to playoffs. But the CSK management had other ideas. They picked dependable players regardless of their age. These stalwarts had it in them to be consistent throughout the season.

They chose the road less taken by not going with the common perception that T20 was a young man's game. The wrong side of 30 was the right side of experience. The team management did take this into consideration and results were there for everyone to see. Overall, they picked a side full of multi-dimensional players.

Captain Leading from the front & Confidently:

Dhoni Has always been A True Leader.He leads from the Front and he is true definition of A Leader.Sending in Harbhajan and Deepak Chahar to bat ahead of himself and Bravo was yet another out of the box decision. Dhoni would later say that he sent them in to create chaos.Dhoni is not someone who would plan too much while going into the match. He has always been someone who goes into the field, assesses the conditions and then chooses from the options he has.

As a result, it was almost impossible to outwit Chennai Super Kings. They had the edge over most teams in most matches.

With CSK's 2018 title win, the debate of the most successful IPL team has been put to rest. Nine attempts, nine playoffs, seven finals and three trophies. Enough said.

As Harsha Bhogle often says, there has to be something with CSK that they make to the playoffs almost every occasion and its time other teams need to study what they do right. With three trophies and the highest win percentage, CSK are deservedly the undisputed kings of the IPL.