It seems yesterday I was writing a blog about CSK's 2010 victory. I did so on my return flight to Chennai.Such a fairytale it was, this season though they played much consistent cricket. The one thing you can be rest assured is that, there is always a good match when CSK takes field. People complain about having a spin friendly bowling pitch in chepauk that did the trick for the CSK. I wonder why, because almost all teams are strongly equipped with spinners. We have Johan Botha, Warne, Muralitharan , Harbhajan, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha along with impressive uncapped players like Rahul Sharma, Iqbal abdulla, Syed Mohammad spread across all teams except for delhi daredevils maybe. People talk about Dhoni getting lucky, well if luck makes a player to perform better on the field - than I don't call it luck. CSK is not a team of champions but a champion team. They proved it over several editions, where the sum of the series is much more higher than sum of peaks.
People who watched the mighty ducks will understand how a champion team was forged. The first season was all about self-belief and perseverance. The second season was evolution/rebirth, where the team developed roles for individual players and got to know what to expect of the team. The third season was talent, aggression and heart. Looking back, the addition of Bollinger to CSK has made the team look complete. Now Tim Southee / Hilfenhaus could take that mantle from Doug the rug, if needed.
Having seen the team over the years, the team has been mediocre for about two years. It is very strange because those ordinary players seem to have become stalwarts over this period. Albie can't get into the all-rounder slot for South Africa, Bollinger is not the first choice bowler for Australia, Ashwin is looked down to Harbhajan, Jakati can't make it past Murali Kartik, Pragyan Ojha. Nevertheless they form a formidable bowling line-up along with Bravo.
.
When you look back at high scoring matches against CSK. The team batting card never had individual performances. Similarly when you look at low scoring matches against CSK, the bowling burden is equally spread as well. Then if a situation demands a hero, Chennai often unearthed a player for the occassion.
Now that is what I wanted from my team, agreed, they are not perfect, but they are closest to perfect.
