Chennai Super Kings

I suppose you can only praise them. You can only heap compliments upon them. You can only acclaim them.

This giant of a cricket team. This monumental beast of a modern-day side. This contemporary beast. The Chennai Super Kings; what can you do but acclaim them?

From top to bottom. From bat to ball. From one to seven. They are close to perfect. 

Their victories are tantalising but inevitable. Their successes are predictable but fascinating. Their wins are obvious but pulsating. 

They are a team so awesome that they make winning boring. 

Is it right that winning becomes obvious? That victory becomes a procedure? 

I don't know? I guess what clouds your praise in smog is the conspiracies. That their players are dodgy. That their captain is on the take. That they are a franchise clouded in suspicion. 

But you take that away. You live upon innocent until proven guilty. You take what they do at face value. And man. Man, they are awesome. From Brendon McCullum to MS Dhoni. Man, they are awesome. Power, to guile, to power again and to guile again. They have every base covered, and that is only with the bat.

On Saturday, the Chennai Super Kings dismantled the Mumbai Indians with trademark efficiency. With classical aplomb.

What perhaps defines such efficiency was the calmness of the chase. They started well, and never appeared to not be on track. Yet suddenly, they lost opener Dwayne Smith and Faf du Plessis in consecutive overs, their two set batsmen were gone, and Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni were at the crease. There was, at that point, a glimmer of hope for Mumbai. But with the serenity of their eventual victory, Dhoni and Raina seeing CSK home, it's almost as if they gave Mumbai hope on purpose. They made it close to tease them. 

It came to the last over and Dhoni, as he has done countless times, saw his side home with consecutive boundaries. 

They are a side who always seem to know what to do. Who know how to operate. Who know how they work. They are, like the Rajasthan Royals, well trained, drilled and processed, and yet they are like the Kings XI Punjab, awesome, talented and skilled. 

The Chennai Super Kings are close to perfect.

Their victories are so obvious they are almost boring. And there is no greater compliment you can give.

Mumbai's disastrous start to the Indian Premier League season continued as they lost their third game in a row.

The defending champions were beaten by the Chennai Super Kings by seven wickets at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

The Indians, who chose to bat, could only make 141-7 in their 20 overs and that target was reached with six balls to spare.

Having reached just 31-2 at the end of the powerplay, Mumbai were boosted by an 84-run partnership for the third wicket between hard-hitters Corey Anderson and Rohit Sharma.

However, New Zealander Anderson was run out for 39 in the 16th over and skipper Sharma followed two overs later, having made 50 from 41 balls.

Seamer Mohit Sharma then picked up three wickets in the penultimate over as Mumbai just made it past seven runs per over.

Chennai made a confident reply with Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum putting on 51 for the opening wicket in the powerplay.

West Indian Smith blasted four sixes before departing for 29, and although Suresh Raina went cheaply in the next over, McCullum kicked on after fails in his previous two innings.

The Kiwi opener made an unbeaten 71 from 53 balls, hitting the winning runs off compatriot Anderson. 

Chennai move level on points with Kings XI Punjab at the top of the table after their third victory.

It's amazing what defeat can do to you. It is clear as water that Chennai Super Kings, the most successful franchise in the Indian Premier League, do not like to lose. So, when they were beaten in their opening match of the 2014 season by the Kings XI Punjab even after putting on more than 200 runs on the board, it would have stung.

Coming into the tournament, much was said and written about CSK's heavily loaded batting line-up. Even after having lost both their regular openers, Michael Hussey and Murali Vijay, in the auction, Chennai managed to purchase players who were more than able replacements.

When your batting line-up reads Brendon McCullum (IPL strike rate: 123.93), Dwayne Smith (134.65), Suresh Raina (141.13), Faf du Plessis (131.46), MS Dhoni (142.47), Dwayne Bravo (134.82) and Ravindra Jadeja (138.06), you have the luxury of affording a weaker bowling formation.

However, Chennai were to learn otherwise in the opening fixture, after Kings XI Punjab managed to chase down 205 with seven balls to spare. With a bowling line-up that relies so heavily on spin, their three spinners—Ravichandran Ashwin, Jadeja and Pawan Negi—went for a combined 121 runs in 11 overs between them.

To make matters worse, they lost Bravo to injury midway through the match, and it has now been declared that the Trinidadian all-rounder will miss the entire tournament, per ESPNcricinfo.

Apart from their formidable batting strength, Chennai also have one of the best fielding units on paper, comprising Raina, Jadeja, du Plessis, McCullum and a fit Bravo. However, against Punjab, they dropped three catches that on any other day would have been regulation takes. 

The six-wicket defeat would have wounded Chennai's pride. So, come Monday, everyone would have anticipated a response in their second fixture. And a response they did get.

What transpired at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi was a thoroughly vintage CSK performance, ticking all three boxes: batting, bowling and fielding. Batting first again, Chennai even went back to their tried and tested method of starting watchfully and keeping wickets intact before going on an all-out assault in the final few overs.

Chennai were 119 for three in 16 overs and ended up with 177 on the board. It wasn't 205 like earlier, but then those many runs aren't required when your other departments turn up as well.

Chennai brought in Ishwar Pandey and Ben Hilfenhaus for the game, and the duo provided a perfect start with its probing and accurate out-swingers. With a required rate of almost nine runs an over, it wasn't long before the Delhi batsmen tried to break free.

In the third over, Mayank Agarwal tried to hit inside-out a length ball from Pandey but only managed to lob it towards cover. The ball looked due to drop a little wide of the cover position and, normally, it would have been a difficult catch for any ordinary fielder.

But Suresh Raina is no ordinary fielder. The 27-year-old sprinted like his life depended on it, made the perfect dive for effect and eventually made the catch look easy. Whatever you can do, I can do better, said Faf du Plessis as he went on to take a couple of absolute stunners running back from mid-off in the next couple of overs.

The Daredevils were 17 for three in the fifth over. While teams have recovered from such scores, considering the energy and pyrotechnics displayed by Chennai on the field, 177 seemed far, far away. With their opposition's confidence severely dented, Chennai lost no time in going for the kill.

Just three days earlier, Delhi had chased down 167 made by the Kolkata Knight Riders in Dubai. However, they could just manage 84 this time around with their 10 available batsmen, having lost the services of Nathan Coulter-Nile to a hamstring injury three balls into the match.

It ended a superb all-round and traditional CSK performance, one that would have the other seven teams worrying. If anyone still thinks that Chennai are distracted from their off-field woes, they've got another thing coming. It was the CSK of yore that turned up on Monday evening in Abu Dhabi, and they intend to stick around. It spells trouble for anyone coming in their way.

The Chennai Super Kings recorded their first win of the 2014 Indian Premier League season as they crushed the Delhi Daredevils by 93 runs in Abu Dhabi.

Chennai, the 2010 and 2011 champions, chose to bat first and made 177-7 in their 20 overs with Suresh Raina making 56.

Delhi were skittled out for 84 in their reply as they slumped to their second loss in three matches.

Dwayne Smith made 29 for Chennai at the top of an order as they reached 50-1 at the end of the powerplay despite the loss of Brendon McCullum for nine.

Raina hit five boundaries and a six in his 41-ball innnings and was supported by Faf du Plessis, who made 24 from 17 balls, and Indian captain Mahendra Dhoni who blasted 32 from just 15 balls.

Despite an impressive 3-32 from young seamer Jaydev Unadkat, the Daredevils—still missing injured captain Kevin Pietersen—faced a tough chase at nearly nine runs per over.

That task was made far tougher as they slumped to 50-5.

After losing three men in the opening 26 balls, they were further hit with the loss of key men JP Duminy and Ross Taylor.

The South African was trapped lbw by Smith for 15 at the start of the ninth over, and the New Zealand batsman fell in the next over for six, caught behind off Ben Hilfenhaus.

The team, who are much revamped after losing 13 of their 16 games last season, folded inside 16 overs as Ravi Jadega and Ravichandran Ashwin shared the final four wickets with Nathan Coulter-Nile unable to bat.

Delhi next play Sunrisers Hyderabad on Friday while Chennai meet Rajasthan Royals in their third match on Wednesday.

The Chennai Super Kings are the first side through to the semi-finals of the Champions League T20 after steamrolling the Brisbane Heat by eight wickets in Ranchi.

The IPL side won the toss and chose to field, restricting Brisbane to 137 for seven from 20 overs.

Spin was crucial—Ravi Jadeja, Ravi Ashwin and Suresh Raina returned combined figures of 11-1-37-4, strangling the life out of the Heat's innings.

Free-scoring Chennai have managed huge totals in their two earlier matches, and made light work of the target.

Australian Michael Hussey set the tone against his compatriots with an unbeaten 57, while Murali Vijay (42), Raina (23) and Dhoni (13 not out) played around him.

The thumping defeat also ensures that Brisbane, champions of the Big Bash League last time around, will go home early from the tournament.

Here is the scorecard as given by the official CLT20 website:

• Bowler	O	R	W	Econ	Dots
  Mohit Sharma	3	35	2	11.66	8
  Albie Morkel	2	15	1	7.50	5
  Jason Holder	2	26	0	13.00	3
  Ravichandran Ashwin	4	10	1	2.50	17
  Ravindra Jadeja	4	18	2	4.50	11
  Suresh Raina	3	9	1	3.00	10
  Dwayne Bravo	2	20	0	10.00	5

• Fall of Wickets
  1/5 (Michael, 0.5 ov)	2/29 (Hopes, 3.4 ov)
  3/54 (Christian, 6.1 ov)	4/55 (Burns, 6.5 ov)
  5/61 (Lynn, 9.3 ov)	6/66 (Sabburg, 12.3 ov)
  7/137 (Hartley, 19.6 ov)

• Bowler	O	R	W	Econ	Dots
  James Hopes	1	7	0	7.00	2
  Matthew Gale	2	22	0	11.00	4
  Cameron Gannon	3	19	0	6.33	9
  Dan Christian	3	16	1	5.33	7
  Nathan Hauritz	3	36	0	12.00	4
  Ben Cutting	3.5	38	1	9.91	6

• Fall of Wickets
  1/75 (Vijay, 9.2 ov)	2/116 (Raina, 13.6 ov)

Chennai Super Kings won an all-IPL clash at the Champions League T20, outscoring Sunrisers Hyderabad by 12 runs in Ranchi.

The result puts Chennai top of Group B, with two wins from two. They are the only side to have reached that mark so far.

It was a high-scoring match. The Super Kings raced to 202 for four in their 20 overs, before doing enough to keep the Sunrisers at bay.

The star of the show was CSK captain MS Dhoni. His innings was brutal, finishing on 63 not out from just 19 balls. There were eight sixes in the knock, with five in one over to a particularly shell-shocked Thisara Perera.

Suresh Raina had earlier set the platform with a 57-ball 84.

Parthiv Patel (38 off 28) and Shikhar Dhawan (48 from 34) made a decent fist of the chase, with their opening partnership adding 88 runs in good time.

Thereafter, there was little more firepower. Only Darren Sammy, who blasted five sixes in a 25-ball 50, kept Hyderabad's faint hopes alive.

He fell with 27 needed from eight balls, and the rest was inevitable.

Here is the scorecard, as given by the official CLT20 website:

• Bowler	O	R	W	Econ	Dots
  Dale Steyn	4	23	2	5.75	12
  Ishant Sharma	4	40	0	10.00	8
  JP Duminy	4	27	2	6.75	7
  Amit Mishra	2	13	0	6.50	5
  Thisara Perera	3	60	0	20.00	2
  Darren Sammy	3	39	0	13.00	1

• Fall of Wickets
  1/0 (Vijay, 0.2 ov)	2/45 (Hussey, 6.2 ov)
  3/115 (Badrinath, 14.1 ov)	4/175 (Raina, 18.2 ov)

The Chennai Super Kings laid down a marker in the Champions League T20 by rushing past a total of 185 from South Africa's Titans with plenty to spare.

The Titans looked to be in good shape, thanks to an outstanding spell of hitting from AB de Villiers, who crashed 77 runs from just 36 balls. There were seven sixes in his knock, as well as three fours.

Ravi Jadeja copped the brunt of de Villiers' onslaught, his three overs costing 49 runs—although he did bag his wicket with an over to go.

With Henry Davids also adding a half-century, 185-5 gave the Titans something to defend in Ranchi.

But the Super Kings charged out in response, despite losing Murali Vijay to a golden duck. Mike Hussey crashed 47 from 26 balls, while Suresh Raina was scarcely slower with the same score from 28 deliveries.

Furthermore, 20 wides blighted the scorecard as the Titans' bowling let them down.

Subramaniam Badrinath and Dwayne Bravo only needed to score at a touch over a run a ball from that point to see the Indian side to victory. Though Bravo fell with the target in sight for 38, one of a little flurry of wickets, the match was already won.

Here's the scorecard, as given by the official CLT20 website:

• Bowler	O	R	W	Econ	Dots
  Mohit Sharma	4	27	0	6.75	12
  Jason Holder	4	25	0	6.25	12
  Ravichandran Ashwin	4	36	1	9.00	5
  Albie Morkel	1	8	0	8.00	2
  Ravindra Jadeja	3	49	1	16.33	1
  Dwayne Bravo	4	34	2	8.50	8

• Fall of Wickets
  1/46 (Rudolph, 6.6 ov)	2/122 (Davids, 13.1 ov)
  3/154 (Behardien, 17.1 ov)	4/154 (Wiese, 17.3 ov)
  5/179 (de Villiers, 18.6 ov)

• Bowler	O	R	W	Econ	Dots
  Roelof van der Merwe	3	25	1	8.33	5
  Morne Morkel	4	47	1	11.75	11
  Rowan Richards	3.5	29	3	7.56	11
  Marchant de Lange	3	34	0	11.33	7
  David Wiese	3	29	1	9.66	7
  Henry Davids	2	23	0	11.50	1

• Fall of Wickets
  1/6 (Vijay, 0.3 ov)	2/95 (Raina, 7.5 ov)
  3/114 (Hussey, 9.6 ov)	4/172 (Bravo, 16.2 ov)
  5/181 (Dhoni, 18.1 ov)	6/183 (Jadeja, 18.3 ov)

Chennai Super Kings became the second team to qualify for IPL playoffs after Royal Challengers Bangalore. CSK did so by beating Kochi Tuskers Kerala by 11 runs. Making CSK the only team that has been in all of IPL's semi-final stages. 

While Chennai Super Kings has 18 points from nine wins in their 13 matches, on the other hand Kochi Tuskers Kerala finished their quota of 14 matches with 12 points. This is the third loss in the last four matches for KTK.

Kochi Tuskers put up a brave face by reducing CSK to a fairly close chase, able score of 153 runs. In their quest for finishing the season on a high, the chase got a jolt when their new captain Parthiv Patel was sent off by R. Ashwin in the third over. The catch was completed by Albie Morkel.

Meanwhile, Brendon McCullum continued with his style of batting to give KTK a glimmer of hope. In a bid to lower the run-rate required, Brendon got one completely wrong from Jakati; the ball hitting the middle of middle stumps. At the last five overs, KTK required 63 runs from 30 balls at a run-rate of over 12.

Though, the last dash at the possible chase was from Brad Hodge, who pulled out back-to-back sixes of Bravo in the nineteenth over. The last over required 19 runs, and Bollinger bowled with a tight line and length. Kochi Tuskers Kerela felt short of 11 runs. Ironically, KTK skipper at the toss told 140 would be a chaseable score. KTK made 141 for the loss of five wickets. 

Earlier, CSK won the toss and elected to bat. Wriddhiman Saha, who was recently selected in the Indian team for the West Indies tour, top-scored for CSK by making 46-of-33 balls.

The points table is at present favoring Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders to make them the remaining of two teams for the playoffs. Kings XI Punjab is the only other team that has a slim chance of making to the playoffs. 

With over one-third of IPL being over, and thus far seeing the batsmen dominating each game, be it Sachin, Kallis, or Yousuf Pathan, they all have left the bowlers devastated.

Now, Matthew Hayden is up to experiment his new equipment and he has bowlers left with very little part to play in a match.

As in other games, cricket too should be open for innovations, but that should not disturb the healthy contest between a batsman and a bowler.

While much of the innovations have been done with the bat, no experiments have been done with the balls—other than changing their colour for separate formats.

Fingers have always been raised on T20 format for killing the soul of the game by extending undue advantages to batsmen—like reducing the length of boundaries. In essence, pitches have been made more batsmen friendly.

Bowlers are left with nothing more than to bowl strategically and more disciplined so as to restrict any batsman from cutting loose.

Batsmen like Hayden should take lessons from the likes of Sachin and Kallis (I am not including Yousuf Pathan, who has been in a tremendous form, here as he is not even near to what Hayden has achieved in his career.)

It is the technique not the technology which will make you adorable.

If the cricketing authorities find no objections in the bat innovations, then they should encourage the same with the ball—even ball tampering could be made legitimate up to some extent.

As the bowlers always remained underrated in this format, maybe the long-term effect of this lopsidedness in the game  will be discouraged, opting for bowling as a career.

The day is not far when their will be no one to carry the legacy of the bowlers like Mcgrath, Kumble, Muralidharan, and Shane Warne. The game has become merely a source of entertainment and pure business.