Three changes CSK needs to implement before the next match

CSK scored a low of 131 against Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 2022 opening. Despite hitting a mammoth of 210 against IPL newcomers, Lucknow Super Giants, CSK’s inexperienced bowling team, failed to defend the large total.

Despite Shivam Dube’s quick half-century, CSK was defeated by Punjab Kings by 54 runs. Dube hit 57 off 30 balls and shared a 62-run partnership with former Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni, who failed to repeat his form from the first two games against Kolkata Knight Riders and Lucknow Super Giants.

The batting order again failed to deliver against Sunrisers Hyderabad, where Chennai gave a small target of 155 to Hyderabad, which was chased by SRH very easily. 

 Ravindra Jadeja, CSK’s new captain, will have to think about how to lead the team to victory.

The Chennai Super Kings are off to their worst start in an IPL season. The defending champions haven’t looked convincing under new captain Ravindra Jadeja, and it appears like the Men in Yellow have too many holes to fill after a poor start.

Here, we will look at the three most important changes required for the yellow army to get back to its winning ways.

Opening with Ambati Rayudu:

In the last four IPL seasons, veteran hitter Ambati Rayudu has been a steady run-scorer for CSK. He’s batted at No. 4 in three matches so far and No. 5 in the other. However, in the first four games of this season, he has only accumulated 55 runs at an average of 18.33.

Ambati Rayudu has impressive stats as an opener; he has opened on 15 times in the IPL, scoring 431 runs at an average of 30.79, including two fifties and a century. As a result, putting Rayudu at the top alongside Ruturaj Gaikwad can help Chennai Super Kings get a steady start.

It won’t cause much of an issue to Robin Uthappa as he has been performing consistently both at one down and as an opener. The seasoned batter has 116 runs in four innings, including a half-century. He batted one down in the first game before being promoted to opener in the final three games. Uthappa will fit in at No. 3 and hold one end if Ambati Rayudu is elevated to open alongside Ruturaj Gaikwad, as it will balance the side, and Robin Uthappa can take his time to play big shots.

Rajvardhan Hangargekar in place of Mukesh Choudhary

Mukesh Choudhary has performed admirably well in domestic cricket across all forms, but his execution has been lacking so far this season. He has only taken two wickets in the last three league matches and has given away 121 runs at a very high economy rate.

Mukesh, without any doubt, has talent, but given the circumstances, Chennai Super Kings are in no position to continue with him. Instead of Mukesh, Chennai must offer youngster Rajvardhan Hangargekar a chance. Hangargekar is a potential batsman in the lower-middle order in addition to his contributions with the ball. He did show a sneak of his all-around skills at the U19 World Cup earlier this year. Rajvardhan Hangargekar scored 52 runs in six matches, including an undefeated 39, and took five wickets. 

MS Dhoni at Number 4:

MS Dhoni has shown that he’s still capable of finishing the game in the way he’s known for.

In the two opening games, he found his stride against the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Lucknow Super Giants. In the IPL 2022 opener against KKR, the CSK wicketkeeper-batsman struck 50 off 38 balls to improve the team’s total to 131/5. Dhoni blasted 16 of six balls in the second game, including a boundary and a six, to help CSK pass the 200-run mark against Lucknow Super Giants.

This shows that Chennai Super Kings will look completely different if Dhoni promotes himself up the order as he will get to spend more time on crease, which will definitely improve their firepower and balance the team with essential partnerships like earlier times.

He is batting at No.7 now and generally hardly plays 10-15 balls, which is not enough for him to show his vintage form and navigate the team’s total as he can potentially do when playing up the order.