IPL 2019: 3 Reasons why Chennai Super Kings will not win the IPL this Season

The Chennai Super Kings won IPL 2018 in a tremendous show of spirit and made the season a memorable one for their fans. A lot was expected from them during the transfer phase and during the auctions, but CSK kept quiet. During the auction, CSK bought just 2 players and before the auction, they released only 3 players.

Their plan seems to be to go in with the same kind of team every year but this time, there are more chances of them misfiring than actually going all the way. There seems to be teams with better squads and coaching staff than them.

Here are 3 reasons why CSK will not win the IPL 2019 title this season:

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#3 Age of their players

The decision to retain Harbhajan might backfire on CSK

Time is the real enemy to all sportspersons and the Chennai Super Kings have picked out a squad which seems to have too many old players on board. No doubt, experience is a real weapon and their squad last season wasn't on the younger side but the odds of them replicating the same success this season is really less. There was no point in retaining players like Harbhajan Singh or Murali Vijay.

Harbhajan couldn't pick up too many wickets and is clearly way past his prime. Murali Vijay was hardly used last season and the form which he currently is in, I doubt if he'll be able to make too much of an impact in T20 cricket.

The Super Kings certainly value experience over youth but the fact that there is hardly any local talent in the Chennai side or that most of the youngsters don't get enough playing chances will backfire this season. Even Imran Tahir and Bravo aren't as great as they used to be and the latter, who was their main death bowler, was poor with his bowling and hardly performed with the bat except for the 1st match. This clear shunning of young stars in the team can backfire on CSK.

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#2 Workload of players before the IPL

Dhoni and Rayudu have a lot of cricket to play in the next few months

2019 is going to be a cricket festival as the World Cup 2019 is scheduled to take place after the IPL and the latter has been preponed in order to give players enough time to recover and be fit for the World Cup. The Chennai Super Kings have many first-team players from India and other countries and the fear of injury will always be there. Faf Du Plessis, Imran Tahir, Lungi Ngidi and David Willey are expected to leave halfway through the tournament and this will leave CSK with a depleted overseas roster.

The fact that players like Rayudu, Dhoni and Jadeja will be cautious is another concern for the Men in Yellow. Also, Dwayne Bravo and Shane Watson, their 2 primary overseas stars, will be returning from the Pakistan Super League which ends on March 17th.

With the IPL starting on March 23rd, the workload will clearly be more for them. CSK could have released a couple more players and bought someone fresh, who will be available for the entire tournament, but their actions were questionable.

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#1 Squad Selection - Poor Player Retention and Choices in the Auction

Sam Billings will surely be surplus at the Super Kings camp this season

The Chennai Super Kings think-tank along with their skipper MS Dhoni have always thought ahead and have always managed to assemble a solid, strong squad. This time though, there seemed to be a sense of lethargy in the air and their retention choices were certainly not up to the mark.

They released only 3 players and kept many of their old, under performing stars in the squad for no apparent reason. Also, players like Sam Billings are certainly not needed for the side as they have enough players in that position.

They had no overseas slot available in the auction and as a result, they have no overseas backup for someone like Lungi Ngidi. Mohit Sharma was a star under Dhoni in 2015 but a lot has changed since then.

To pay INR 5 Crore and receive the same kind of performance he gave for the Kings XI Punjab in the last couple of seasons, won't be what CSK want. Players like Karn Sharma, Harbhajan Singh only add to the burden of the team and rather being sentimental, they need to look for new players. They don't have a good backup for their overseas players and it will be interesting to see how they fare after players like Du Plessis, Tahir or Ngidi leave.

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