Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will be facing Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the IPL 2024 opener on Friday March 22. The MS Dhoni-led team won their record-equalling fifth title after beating Gujarat Titans (GT) in the IPL final last year.
CSK were hit by a few injuries to their key players but they hustled till the very end to beat Gujarat on the last ball of the tournament. One of the most celebrated teams in history of the tournament will be facing a few major challenges this year as well. Can the team deliver on the expectations once again? If it’s Dhoni’s last season, will he get to sign off on a high?
CSK SWOT Analysis for IPL 2024
Strength: There is no doubt there. The strength of CSK is the stability Dhoni brings as a leader, and the home-like dressing room environment where players mysteriously bring out their best. Shivam Dube has revived his career after joining the franchise, and Ajinkya Rahane found his feet in IPL after enduring a couple of tough seasons. Tushar Deshpande and Matheesha Pathirana found their ‘line and length’ under the watchful eyes of Dhoni.
Therefore, the culture of CSK remains their biggest strength and it would be interesting to see if it stands tall against all the odds once again.
Weakness: The CSK bowling unit is again lacking a big name. Last year, Deshpande (21), Pathirana (19) and Ravindra Jadeja (20) did the job for the team, but can the trio again have a successful season together? The real Test of CSK bowlers would be during their away matches outside of Chepauk.
CSK has also roped in Shardul Thakur, but there is a genuine death of an experienced pace spearhead like Pat Cummins, Jasprit Bumrah, or Mitchell Starc. Deepak Chahar has also played limited cricket over the years, and his fitness is also under the scanner.
The IPL teams would come better prepared against the likes of Deshpande, Pathirana and other CSK bowlers. Most of the teams are having a power-packed batting line-up and CSK bowlers would not want to get exposed against them.
Opportunity: There is opportunity for CSK all-rounder to make impact for CSK in the series. Shivam Dube, Rachin Ravindra, Ravindra Jadeja, and Daryl Mitchell are all world-class quality all-rounders, and they would be aiming to come out all guns blazing to light up the IPL 2024.
Threat: CSK batting unit would need to be watchful. Their two top-order batters – Rahane and Devon Conway are not in the best of forms. Rahane recently got out for a duck thrice in the Ranji Trophy. The star batter crossed the 50-run mark only once before the final.
Conway, on the other hand, has been ruled out of the first half due to a thumb injury. He has scores of 63, 7, 20, 0, 9, 2, 3, 1 and 11 in his last eight T20I innings. In two Test matches against South Africa in February, he scored 1, 29, 0 and 17 runs in the four innings.
In case they continue to struggle, and if someone like Ruturaj Gaikwad misfires, the CSK batting unit can also find themselves in some serious trouble.
CSK Squad IPL 2024: MS Dhoni (c), Moeen Ali, Deepak Chahar, Devon Conway, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajay Mandal, Mukesh Choudhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Mitchell Santner, Simarjeet Singh, Nishant Sindhu, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana, Rachin Ravindra, Shardul Thakur, Daryl Mitchell, Sameer Rizvi, Mustafizur Rahman, Avanish Rao Aravelly.
Utkarsh Singh Mykhel
source: mykhel.com