IPL 2020 | CSK vs RR: What Experts said as CSK bows out of IPL with yet another boring defeat

With Chennai a constant of ‘boring’ seems to have been attached this season as the team has lost most of its game one-sided, leaving no scope for the audience to enjoy the game. This match against Rajasthan Royals, another bottom half team alongside the Super Kings was on the same lines as they lost it by a huge margin of seven wickets with 15 balls remaining.  

Having scored a dismal 125 in the first innings at Abu Dhabi, there seemed ‘no’ to ‘very little’ chance for the men in Yellow to come back into this game.  However, they started their defence of the meagre total in an exceptional note reducing Rajasthan down to 28/3 in the first four and a half overs. But from there on, skipper Steve Smith and ‘rightly due for big innings’, Jos Buttler took the mantle in control and sailed the ship to the shore with much ease. 

Captains’ Viewpoint

Winning a game after two close losses (losing from winning positions), Rajasthan skipper was relieved, to say the least. Reacting to the win, Smith compared the pitches in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah saying, “Sharjah is a little different from here. The wicket was stopping, not the best for batting, and good to be on the winning side,” he said. 

Praising the bowlers, Smith further said, “I thought we bowled well in the powerplay. The spinners bowled good lengths, with the googlies and leggies, building a lot of pressure. Tewatia and Shreyas have been sensational for us.” 

Not being able to perform well in this year’s league, Smith was waiting for an opportunity to bat through and Buttler with his brilliant knock of 70 off 48 deliveries provided him the platform. “Buttler took the pressure off me. I just knocked it around, and he just batted the way he usually does. He always maintains a good strike-rate,” said Smith. 

Talking about the crucial moment in the game when a strong appeal for LBW was made against him, and RR were all already three down, Smith said, “I didn't know I'd nicked the ball, but I was relieved to see the green light,” he said.  

CSK captain MS Dhoni, who played his 200th IPL match today, looked gloomy at the post-match presentation ceremony as there was no bright to match like this. Reacting to the loss he said, “It's not always supposed to go your way. That's why what we try is going back to the process and see if the process is wrong or maybe we weren't able to execute. The result is always a by-product of the process. What it does is it helps you think in a positive way.” 

The philosophical mode of the MSD continued as he said, “We play in front of millions of people so there is nothing to hide. The fact remains that if you're busy with the process then the undue pressure of results doesn't get into the dressing room.” 

Admitting the fact that the pitch got better with time, the 39-year-old said, “There was a bit for the fast bowlers. The reason I brought on Jadeja was to see how much it's stopping. But it didn't stop much like in the first innings. In the second innings I think it got better because our spinners didn't get the same bite.”

Always known to play a settled team, Dhoni was unhappy with the chopping and changing he had to do this season because of the lack of firm.  “You don't want to chop and change a lot. Because what happens is after three-four-five games you're not sure of anything. You want to give guys a fair go then if they're not performing then you switch and go to someone else and give them a run. Insecurity is something you don't want to prevail in the dressing room,” said Dhoni. 

Accepting that his team lagged behind a lot this season, the Ranchi born said, “Fair enough, this season we weren't really there. Also, there were few chances to the youngsters. Maybe we didn't see the kind of spark that they could've given us to say okay you know push the experienced guys and make space for them.” 

Saying that now the youngsters will get the chance to showcase their talent in the upcoming games, he said quickly. “But what this result has done is to give those youngsters whatever is left in our league stages. They will get a chance and have no real pressure on them so they can go out and express themselves,” concluded the skipper. 

Expert Opinion

Experts too were of the opinion that the Chennai team of this year lacked intent. Talking about that Aakash Chopra, the cricketer turned commentator said that CSK seemed to be running without any plan and without any direction. he pointed out as to how the team was not able to accelerate even after promoting Ravindra Jadeja to counter the leggies. 

Along with Chopra, a veteran journalist Joy Bhattacharya took a sly dig at the team and its fans saying that with the kind of losses that CSK has had to go through, their fans are now experiencing what the fans of all other franchises have had in some season or the other. 

Senior cricket analyst Boria Majumdar went on to question the intent of the team saying the losses don't hurt the fans, it is rather the manner in which the team is losing that hurt them the most. 

Sambit Bal, a  senior cricket journalist spoke about how the Chennai team is now out of the context and how even Dhoni seems to have agreed to it. 

Harsha Bhogle, also known as the voice of cricketer got sarcastic in his approach saying that the game in Abu Dhabi was much like Monday Blues after the thrillers that the audiences were subjected to on Sunday. 

With Chennai out of the tournament, chances are that from now onwards, they are going to be the party poopers for others. Rajasthan still has an outside chance if they go on to win rest of their matches. 

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