Tuesday 24 / December / 2024
CSK is the first IPL franchise team to land in Dubai for the conclusion of the 31 matches which were suspended in the beginning of May this year when a few players tested positive and it was a wise decision taken by BCCI to Suspend the IPL at that time in the interest and we'll being of all players.
CSK were placed second with 10 points after the completion of their first leg with five wins and two loses with their net run rate being the best at 1.263 among all teams.
After a disappointing year last year in UAE in the 12th edition where they failed to qualify for the plays off for the first time, they started well in the 13th edition and looked alike one of the teams to beat as all their players looked in good form. The addition of Moeen Ali in their squad gave their team the right balance and impetuous which was lacking last year. Moreover the start provided by their openers Faf Du Plessis and Rituraj Gaikwad was also very instrumental in the team getting off to a rollicking start in most of their games which the team had missed in the last edition. Moreover all their bowlers be it pace and spin bowlers were on the money specially Deepak Chahar and Ravindra Jadeja.
They start their campaign in Dubai on 19th September in Dubai with a mouthwatering contest against arch rivals Mumbai Indians. The last time they met in the first leg of the tournament was a high scoring humdinger where Pollard pulled off an amazing win for Mumbai Indians chasing 218.
On a one to one Chat with Michael Hussey, the batting coach of CSK, I had asked him what separates the CSK franchise from the rest, he said candidly that CSK franchise is like a family and everyone in the team from the players to the support staff are treated in the same way. He has fond memories of CSK winning two back to back titles when they beat first Mumbai Indians in 2010 and then Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2011. CSK surprised everyone in 2018 when they won their third title beating Sunrisers Hyderabad when in that year they were called as the Dads Army. All eyes with be once again on their cool Captain MS Dhoni, who will be itching to take CSK to their fourth title in the UAE and prove that last year's IPL in the UAE was a blip.
Every franchise is popular in the IPL but CSK is one franchise which is loved by fans around the world because of one Man the Thala, Mahendra Singh Dhoni
