Another epilogue in the fairytale script of Destiny's Child MS Dhoni

‘Well we’ll come back stronger, that’s what we’re known for.’

At the conclusion of the Chennai Super Kings’ worst outing in an Indian Premier League (IPL) season, skipper MS Dhoni quipped a statement of confidence and hope for the team’s faithful fan following. One that has borne witness to many a glory year, as well as a fair number of lows through the team’s roller-coaster journey.

Yet, for a side that has been through its ordeals in a number of different ways, a finish outside the top four, let alone a lowly number 7, was beyond the realms of imagination for those who’ve witnessed the Men in Yellow epitomize grit and dominance en route to the status of one of the most decorated sides in the league.

Thus, for the ‘Dad’s Army’ - as they were notoriously dubbed for a side that had players heading towards, if not already in the twilight of their career - a title triumph in 2018 and a near encore in 2019 was considered an overachievement by many critics. And with the pandemic having ideas of its own in stretching the three-year cycle into a fourth, another long season seemed to beckon Dhoni and CSK.

MS Dhoni recognised the need for a change in approach ahead of IPL 2021.

Trusting the process has become such a cliche associated with skipper Dhoni that a blip in the form of IPL 2020 was not going to deter the side’s approach heading into the 2021 season.

For a side that was assembled largely based out of conditions at their fortress that is the Chepauk Stadium, they neither had a power-hitter of note, nor a tearaway quick at their disposal. Those in the know would understand the wings that these dimensions add to a T20 outfit and hence, another spanner was thrown into the works of CSK, with neutral venues being the norm for the season back during the India leg as well.

Ditch of the old ploy

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand the major catalyst behind CSK’s turnaround - their change in approach. Kicking the ‘take it deep’ approach for good was an obvious writing in stone considering their endless depth in batting. Yet, would it have been that easy to adopt considering Dhoni, the central strategist of the Super Kings outfit, had mastered taking the game deep all these years as batter and captain? ‘Definitely not’!

Yet, for a captain who has the most glittering CV in the limited-overs format, the need to adapt and evolve had become inevitable. The opportunity arose in the form of a lineup that had Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar batting at number 10 and 11 respectively for a good part of the first leg. This was rich depth of the kind that no other team could have bragged about.

The perks of this paradigm shift were there to be seen during CSK’s third league game against the Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium where, despite wickets falling at regular intervals of time, they piled on a competitive 188. Fancy a top score of a mere 33 by Faf du Plessis and that tells you a story of the benefits of the new strategy. The total eventually proved to be 45 runs too many for the Royals’ liking and the middle-overs thrust led by the side’s newest addition in Moeen Ali was a template that would augur so well for the team heading into the forthcoming games.

CSK's newest acquisition, Moeen Ali, was flamboyance personified right through the 14th season of the IPL (Pic credits: The Quint/BCCI/IPL)

A number of unsung heroes whose contributions may not have stood out amidst the gigantic scores of Ruturaj Gaikwad and du Plessis need mentioning here.

Josh Hazlewood added the spunk that the bowling lacked in the first half. Dwayne Bravo’s nagging, measly couple of overs in the final when the Kolkata Knight Riders were on a rampage brought them back into the contest.

Shardul Thakur’s endless instances of breaking open the contest and Ambati Rayudu’s vital cameos amount to some of these contributions among so many others. And of course, how can one forget the inspired batting returns of the seamless time machine named Robin Uthappa, who seems to have ended the tournament as a bit of a ‘clutch specialist’!

Yet, a lot comes back to Dhoni, the head or the Thala of this ship, called CSK. A ship which, in the man’s own words, had ‘too many holes... when you try to plug one, there is water flowing from another’.

On the park, he has been the captain steering this ship that has had to wade through many a dicey tide and a mid-tournament postponement of the league surely threw a spanner into its works with a number of its players not actively playing competitive cricket.

A format as volatile as T20 cricket, that comes with the most minute margin for error, calls for the requisite calm and sound method to approach the madness that comes with it. In Dhoni, CSK has had the method to the format’s madness.

Dhoni has often been likened to a chess player - sharp on instinct. In a data-driven world, he has managed to keep himself content with not fixing something that wasn’t completely broken at the very least. As in years gone by, he hasn’t had the compulsion to call upon all of his ‘bikes and cars’ on the park - fancy Moeen Ali unused with the ball for a good part of the UAE leg.

Yet a change in norm with regards to their approach took CSK from the nadir of a seventh-placed finish to the top of the pile for a solid part of the season. So much so that three losses towards the end of the league phase didn’t send alarm bells triggering in their ranks.

And with the appropriate blend of a renewed ploy with more or less the same resources at their disposal, it had to be the Dhoni-Stephen Fleming combination to orchestrate the same and give the Super Kings outfit a renovated, polished look.

The fairytale climax in the MS Dhoni story

The culmination of it all was indeed a fairytale comeback. Comebacks are something that CSK aren't averse to, which is why it must not come as a surprise given that the squad this season had a better look than the one that tasted glory in 2018.

For a man who, it can be argued, was chased by the sport rather than the other way around, Dhoni’s destiny had yet another epilogue still to be written - an epilogue that concluded on the 15th night of October, 2021.

As always, nobody knows what’s on his mind with regards to the future. If Dhoni has indeed played his last competitive game of cricket, fewer fairytales would have a better ending than that finish against the Delhi Capitals and the title triumph that ensued soon after.

And with his name arguably more synonymous with a team in the league than any of his contemporaries, the legacy of MS Dhoni has just grown richer in 2021 as he possibly leaves ahead of the next cycle...

‘Still I haven’t left behind…’

Well, what do we know? He continues to keep us guessing!