IPL 6: Chennai Super Kings: In great shape

If I said that the recently concluded 4-0 whitewash of the Aussies was a blow handed significantly by a bunch of players from the Yellow brigade, very few will disagree. Such is the form and confidence of some of the key players of CSK entering into the 6th edition of this highly coveted t20 tournament.

Murali Vijay stamped his authority onto the international scene finally with a string of consistent performances. Amassing 430 runs and beating Pujara to the top scorer in the series spot, Vijay has promised many Chennaites a reason to “whistle podu”.

M.S. Dhoni, after scoring a tremendous, T20-esque (referring to his strike rate) double century in the opening Test match at his ‘home –ground away from home-ground’, is in silken touch to say the least. As Sunny Gavaskar puts it perfectly, Dhoni is indeed watching the cricket ball like a football now!

The next is my favourite player, Ravindra Jadeja. I can already see a few furious faces out there, so let me rephrase it. Sir Ravindra Jadeja. With his knack of picking up wickets at regular intervals, tremendous fielding ability, and decent batting ability, he for me is tailor made for this format, and will be a success story this time around, especially after the confidence that he would have gained out of the recently concluded series.

Ravichandran Ashwin. After a man-of -the series performance, Ravi Ash will most definitely be on cloud nine coming into this tournament. He showed the world how well he can adapt to the longer version of the game by picking up a lot of wickets with his orthodox off-spinners. As he has shown in the past, Ashwin is most certainly the most lethal attack that CSK has in its bowling department.

A team that has won this tournament twice, been runners-up twice and having never finished below the top three, CSK are the most successful team in the IPL. After Bisla’s amazing knock in the finals last year which made CSK snatch defeat from the jaws of success, I am pretty sure the Lions will be raring to go all the way this time around.

Chris Morris and Dirk Nannes are great additions to the team, and CSK looks perfectly balanced, as is the case most of the time .

The mood is upbeat and the team looks set. If only Amma Dr. J. Jayalalitha can sort out the issue that persists with the Sri Lankan players playing in Chennai, we would be all set for a fantastic season of IPL that will see CSK dominate the games that is played at its den, Chennai. If the venue for home matches should be shifted, then it would land as a serious blow to CSK’s chances of reaching the knock out stages.

PIE’s CALL: CSK reaching the finals yet again!