MS Dhoni - A Chennai Super King in denial

Du Plessis is too big to be Badrinath

Faf du Plessis is being wasted in this side

What do you do to a player who was one of the biggest revelations of the year 2012? Chuck it. The Super Kings will play him at a position that will totally nullify his threat: at No.4. Du Plessis scored 398 runs in just 12 innings at an average of 33.16 and strike-rate of 130.92 as an opener in 2012. His highest score during this season, 73, still remains to be his highest in his IPL career – and he has to credit his team's think-tank for that. They hardly gave him an opportunity to improve.

When he came back to join the team in 2014, after missing the 2013 season due to an injury, he was straightaway demoted in favour of the Super Kings’ new overseas inputs Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum. He was able to return only 195 runs in the 8 innings he batted at No.4 at an average of 24.37, which is 9 less than what he managed in his debut season. He managed to go past the half century mark only once during this period.

Following the departure of McCullum late in the season, he was back again opening the innings. Guess what? He registered his highest score that season, 54* against Royal Challengers Bangalore, in just the second innings after promotion. He looked in glorious touch and it was said that he had finally found his form, which wasn't really true. it was what opening did to him.

The ‘adapting to the team’s needs' theory only holds good if it doesn’t affect a player's potential and if the swap makes makes both the players deliver, which in turn can make the team better. In this case, it clearly didn’t. Du Plessis has his strengths – being someone who relies more on timing than power, he needs powerplay restrictions to convert his scoring shots. The lowest he could bat is at No.3, and even that could backfire if the first wicket doesn't fall early.

Dhoni-led teams and player mismanagement

Du Plessis has played 20 off his 22 international T20 innings at No.3. He has scored six 50+ scores, and the latest he has come to the crease during those six innings is the fifth over. The highest he has scored coming in after the seventh over – a period during which you normally expect your No.4 to come in ideally – is 22, although only two of his innings fit under the bracket.

When you bat him at No.4, below the likes of Dwayne Smith, Brendon McCullum and Suresh Raina, who are likely to face majority of the 120 deliveries in a T20 match, what sort of a role you have in mind for Du Plessis?

Do you see him as the one to do damage control in case of a top order collapse? You may miss Subramaniam Badrinath, but does it really make sense to waste an overseas slot to do what he did? Not just this year, this has been a worrying pattern with pretty much all Dhoni-led teams. Happened with Albie Morkel before and is happening with Ajinkya Rahane currently.

Take the just concluded IPL too – a season where he was again asked to bat at No.4 and ended up batting at bizarre numbers.

If you take out the 121 runs he scored in the 3 innings he batted at No.3 after the departure of McCullum, he was able to manage only 259 runs at an average of 25.9 in the remaining 12 innings he batted at No.4 or below. And again, it is after being promoted to No.3 that he registered his highest score of the season – 55 against Kings XI Punjab.

The reason why I have stressed so much on the No.4 slot of Du Plessis is that this is the slot that prevents the Super Kings from playing an overseas bowler. And when it comes at such a cost, you should make complete use of it; the Super Kings clearly haven't. With Dwayne Smith struggling, the Super Kings could have easily dropped him, played one of the two overseas pacers in his place instead and opened with Du Plessis.

The Dougi Bollinger Storm and zero lessons learnt

This is not the first time the Super Kings have found themselves in this situation. They were in a similar situation six years before, and even back then only a forced replacement turned things around for them. Midway through 2010, the Super Kings had lost 5 of the 8 matches they had played and didn’t look like a team that had it in them to qualify for the knockouts. Then came Doug Bollinger, a mid season replacement for the injured Jacob Oram.

The left-arm pacer turned the team's season on its head with his incisive new ball spells and accurate death bowling. It also coincided with the emergence of Ravichandran Ashwin and the most productive year of Muttiah Muralitharan in the Super Kings colours. The result? They won 6 of the remaining 8 matches and eventually went on to do the double, winning the Champions League 2010 held in South Africa. They could have bought Bollinger at the auction and bossed the entire season, but the Super Kings chose to be Super Kings.

Although they couldn’t buy back Muralitharan in the next season, the duo of Bollinger and Ashwin continued their dream run helping the team clinch their second IPL title. It was during that period that the Super Kings played like a world-class outfit. They won three of the four titles they competed for in 2010 and 2011. The oppositions were reduced to scores of 146/9 (IPL 2010 final), 128/10 (CLT20 2010 final) and 147/8 (IPL 2011 final). There was only one team that ever looked like winning those matches – Chennai Super Kings.

CSK’s top 3 bowlers in 2010	Matches	Wickets	Average	Economy
Doug Bollinger	8	12	17.25	6.67
Ravichandran Ashwin	12	13	22.53	6.10
Muttiah Muralitharan	12	15	21.93	6.85

Bollinger showed signs of decline in the 2012 Champions League and in the following season and was released in 2012. While the Super Kings have invested on some young, untested overseas bowlers since then (with Hilfenhaus and Samuel Badree being exceptions), they have hardly given them enough chances to prove their ability. Why buy them when you aren't confident enough?

Bowlers bought by CSK after Bollinger’s release	Year	Chances in IPL
Ben Laughlin	2013	2
Akila Dananjaya	2013	0
Jason Holder	2013	6
Ben Hilfenhaus	2014	8
John Hastings	2014	1
Matt Henry	2014	0
Samuel Badree	2014	4
Kyle Abbott	2015	0
Andrew Tye	2015	0

Be flexible or perish

Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians have caught up with the Super Kings. They may not be as consistent in making the top 4, but when they do, they are most likely to win. Royal Challengers Bangalore, under Virat Kohli, look a different unit altogether (if only they can spend wisely). Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderbad aren’t too far away.

Most of these teams have cracked the code to play at Chepauk: play more spinners, go big in the powerplay overs and try not to be silly against CSK’s slow bowlers. The matches this year were so much closer than they used to be in the first few seasons. The home advantage isn’t as big anymore. If the Super Kings don’t wake up, they will soon be left high and dry. Their competitors have started to understand how the game works and are more flexible.

At least, Arsenal have 19 other teams to be content with a top 4 spot every year. In the IPL, all you have is 8 teams and making the top 4 isn’t as big an achievement as it is made out to be. It's isn't too late yet, but if only MS Dhoni and Co. can stop living in denial.