CSK, RCB, redemption and a potential campaign-shaping encounter

12th April 2022, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have stuttered and stumbled on their way to the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. They have lost four games on the spin. They have lost three out of four tosses and couldn’t even defeat the Sunrisers Hyderabad – a team they have historically had the wood over.

But as Ravindra Jadeja walks out for the toss, those clad in yellow at the stadium don’t care an iota. They have come out in numbers and have made the atmosphere feel as pre-COVID as possible. There are drums, there are the slightly irritable vuvuzelas and of course, there are lung-bursting chants whenever MS Dhoni is shown on the giant screen.

And then, almost everyone at the venue pauses. Faf du Plessis, who was Jadeja’s partner-in-crime while manning boundaries, suddenly walks out in red and black. It is something the CSK fans knew they were going to witness. Like the first wave of a high tide, though, it still comes quicker at them and takes them aback.

Just as the CSK faithful regather their breath – even telling themselves that du Plessis will have a last dance in yellow at some point, the coin goes up. Jadeja, perhaps an embodiment of nerves, tosses it as far as he can possibly do.

Javagal Srinath, who is the match referee, has to pace an awful lot just to see in whose favour it has landed. To the dismay of CSK fans, the Royal Challengers Bangalore win the toss and insert the defending champions into bat.

So far in IPL 2022, all captains have decided to do so. That then isn’t much of a surprise. What is a bigger dampener is that a majority of the games have been won by the IPL team batting second (RCB in this case). And, CSK, even in their title-winning season in 2021, had problems batting first.

Still, there is hope – a raw bit of enthusiasm from fans who have often revered their greatest superstars in yellow, but more importantly, a hopeless romanticness about it all. CSK never lose five in a row. Surely then this is the day everything falls into place, right?

For the first 10 overs, that is hardly the case. Ruturaj Gaikwad’s sticky patch continues and when he reviews his LBW decision, it returns with an Umpire’s Call. The barest of margins goes against CSK in 2022, and when Moeen Ali runs himself out, there is a groan around the stadium – a feeling that their patchy beginning has seeped into another potentially promising performance.

Almost each CSK fan at the stadium braces himself/herself for a period of rebuilding, considering that is what they usually do. Ambati Rayudu, quite often their fail-safe, is a master at maneuvering spin and keeping things ticking. But he doesn’t stride out to the centre. Instead, it is Shivam Dube – a player famously discarded by RCB and RR, who waltz out.

As fate would have it, Robin Uthappa is stationed at the other end – another cricketer who wasn’t given the requisite platform to flourish at RCB. Dube and Uthappa’s numbers weren’t great when representing the franchise.

The former scored 169 runs at an average of 16.9 and a strike rate of 122.46, whereas the latter scored 549 runs at an average of 23.86. Uthappa, though, did strike at close to 142, meaning that there were more than glimpses of his quality at RCB.

For the latest IPL point table, click here.

Dube and Uthappa produced a magnificent partnership for CSK

Thus, it was only poetic that both would conjure one of the greatest partnerships the IPL has seen all these years – against a team that didn’t quite trust their abilities during their troughs, and for a team that backs them to the hilt – even when they are 36 years old (Uthappa) and were single-handedly blamed for a defeat earlier in the season (Dube).

Prior to the fixture against RCB, CSK had crawled along in the middle overs. They had scored at a rate of 7.17 and their run-rate was only better than the Mumbai Indians – another team that hasn’t tasted victory in this edition so far. Their death overs run rate wasn’t great either (11.28) and was only the sixth-best in the league.

On Tuesday, though, they plundered 156 runs in the second half of their innings. One hundred and fifty-six runs off 60 balls. Dube cleared the fence nine times, and Uthappa did so on eight occasions – incidentally, the maximum number of sixes CSK have managed in an innings in the history of the IPL. And, it came after a rather rudderless display against SRH.

Both registered their highest T20 scores too. But this wasn’t about the runs they scored. It was about the way they scored those runs and the opposition they did it against. Apart from them wanting to script redemption stories, RCB were also one of the best teams in IPL 2022. And, they took them down as if they were almost meant to.

For the initial part of that partnership, it didn’t seem that way. Uthappa was struggling for timing and Dube’s struggles, especially in the middle overs, should have been knowledge to RCB as well. When Glenn Maxwell ripped the ball away from the left-hander, it felt like that trend would continue. But then, one delivery pitched in the area where Dube and the CSK faithful wanted it to.

He planted his front foot and swung with the sort of gay abandon that is built on hours of faith, trust and continuity in selection. Unsurprisingly, the ball went a country mile and made those at the venue erupt.

It wasn’t the biggest six they had seen. It wasn’t the most elegant maximum and it wasn’t struck by their most famous batter either. But it was just enough to make them and CSK believe – believe that they could get their teeth stuck into this contest and be relevant in the IPL conversation again.

That six, apart from knocking the stuffing out of RCB, ensured that CSK piled up a mountain of runs – all while Dube and Uthappa, rather unabashedly, kept reminding RCB what they had let go of. It has been an eternity since the latter was released by the franchise but he was perhaps at the peak of his powers when he was actually let go of. Dube’s displays, meanwhile, dipped to such an extent that he is no longer part of the India pace-bowling all-rounder discussion.

So, for Uthappa to show that the fire is still burning bright, and for Dube to illustrate that he too can single-handedly and positively influence matches against RCB, was, simply put, quite special. It was almost as if it was written in the stars – like a lot of CSK’s scripts are.

From RCB’s standpoint, this could have massive implications too. This game was the first they played without Harshal Patel this season. His absence exposed the dearth of death-bowling resources. Mohammed Siraj conceded runs. Josh Hazlewood looked out of his depth and Akash Deep was torn to shreds. They miscalculated in the middle of that carnage as well, with Wanindu Hasaranga eventually being forced to eke out the 19th over.

Hasaranga’s record against left-handed batters became even more skewed after the Dube onslaught. Since the start of 2022, left-handed batters have scored at a strike rate of more than 164 against the leg-spinner and only two of his wickets this season have come against that type of batter.

The arrival of Hazlewood has also meant that their batting has been trimmed. Against CSK, Shahbaz Ahmed walked out to bat at 5, which despite the youngster’s stellar start to the 2022 iteration, seems a spot higher. Suyash Prabhudesai, too, might not fancy much burden being placed upon his shoulders instantly.

Hence, this could be a campaign-defining match of sorts for RCB. It is still very early but these kinds of defeats leave a lasting impression, irrespective of whether they want to admit it or not.

On the other end of the spectrum is perhaps CSK. Courtesy of this victory, they will believe that they can defend their title and enter the list of IPL winners. The last time they lost four games in a row was in 2010. The fixture that ended that streak was against RCB.It is probably nothing. But it is something. That hasn’t been the case for large swathes this campaign. Now, though, after a redemption night against RCB, it's starting to make a little bit of sense for CSK.

Back at the toss, not many believed that CSK were capable of such a turnaround. A tally of two points in five games is not something to be very proud of either. But it just whispers to the rest of the league that they aren’t finished yet.

From that perspective, this game had to come against RCB – a team they have historically been better against. And, a team against whom they seem to change the momentum of a season. It happened in 2010. It happened in 2012. It happened in 2021 (remember that 37-run over Harshal bowled to Jadeja?). It has again happened in 2022.

Jumping the gun and hurtling towards conclusions isn’t really CSK’s thing. But it was unnervingly easy to connect the dots on Tuesday. More of that and CSK will continue believing that things are falling into place.