Three-time IPL champions Chennai Super Kings have bought just five players in the IPL 2020 auctions. Piyush Chawla was their costliest buy at 6.75 crores. He joins the likes of Harbhajan Singh, Ravindra Jadeja and Imran Tahir to bolster CSK’s spin attack. MS Dhoni, the CSK skipper has always favored a spin-heavy attack in the past and in this article, we will discuss about the probable predicted line-up of CSK.
The Best Possible Predicted Line-Up of CSK
Shane Watson, Faf Du Plessis, Suresh Raina, Kedar Jadhav, Dwayne Bravo, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Imran Tahir, Harbhajan Singh, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur
CSK is an outfit that doesn’t like to change the playing XI much, whether they play at home or away in the IPL. One of the reasons why they have been one of the most successful teams in the league’s history is their theory of sticking with the same XI. Also, they look to win every game they play at home in Chennai at the Chepauk. Their batsmen adapt according to the spinning conditions of the wicket and their bowlers do the job with the ball. They try to limit oppositions playing in Chennai to 150 which is comfortable for their batsmen to chase. Judging by the composition of the side, this is the best possible predicted line-up of CSK, one which has yielded results for them in the past. This also doesn’t allow their new recruit, Piyush Chawla, to breakthrough as there are already three spinners in the side with Jadhav giving them the fourth option.
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Batting Heavy Predicted Line-up of CSK
Shane Watson, Faf Du Plessis, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Imran Tahir, Harbhajan Singh, Deepak Chahar
Rarely does CSK pack their XI with a battery of batsmen. The onus of finishing games off whether batting first or second comes down to MS Dhoni. More often than not he is seen to bat with the tail when the top-order fails to deliver. This season they will need to have some cushion on their batting line-up just to take the pressure of Dhoni. CSK always have been a side that has gone into games with an extra bowling option. However, to have a batting heavy side, they might need to do away with one of their regular bowlers or perhaps two.
Rayudu coming in place of Shardul Thakur still leaves them with three medium pace options in Chahar, Bravo and CSK will bat till Jadeja who will come in at number 8. In case they want to go with a heavy batting line-up, this is the best possible batting heavy predicted line-up of CSK.
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Bowling Heavy Predicted Line-up of CSK
Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, Imran Tahir, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur
One of the characteristics of CSK over the years has been the self-belief. Whichever team takes the field on a particular day, there is a sense of belief that they can get the job done. CSK has hardly found a bowler short in their line-up as because they compose the XI in such a way that they have enough options in their hands be it an extra batsman or a bowler. However, something that might go against them is that they do not have good bench strength and that might cost them some games.
This is where they will find their extra dependence on the bowling attack tough. Their reserves are pretty inexperienced and therefore there is not much room to rotate players. So in case, they want to go in with a bowling heavy attack, the likes of Faf Du Plessis and Kedar Jadhav might have to sit out. This is where the likes of Chawla and Santner might get a look in to strengthen the bowling attack. This is the best possible bowling heavy predicted line-up of CSK.
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Having explained all the best possible predicted line-up of CSK this season, it will be interesting to see how do they shape up their best possible XI according to the playing conditions.