11 + Nehra : CSK's IPL Conundrum

The Indian Premier League (IPL) has returned to much scepticism as to whether cricket's Superbowl will retain it's massive fan following after having it's dirty laundry aired in public. Let all such doubts perish because after three matches, it has become certain that cricket's prodigal son is back with a bang. Being a ardent fan of a team that has reached the knockout stages in every single edition of the IPL, not to mention has won the coveted trophy twice, is a matter of great pride. But post today's loss to the Kings XI Punjab, who played brilliantly, a certain doubt that arose in my mind after the IPL auction was confirmed. 

CSK’s bowling has taken a hit and the initial prognosis doesn’t look good.

(Backstory rant : CSK shocked it’s fan base when it brought in ageing fast bowler Ashish Nehra, which raised questions about the mental sanctity of the bidders. The justification for this move was the bags of international experience (GHANTA!) Nehra brings with him, which includes bowling full tosses to a well set batsman in the final over of the innings (That worked once against Pakistan, mate). CSK’s official website describes Nehra as a “fast bowler with pace, accuracy and the ability to enforce subtle variations in line and length” which couldn’t be further from the truth. On a good day, Nehra clocks 135 km/hr and leaks runs at around 8 an over. Hardly a T20 stalwart. Nehra is absolute rubbish with the bat and we witnessed a fine example of his fielding prowess with that spectacular dropped catch off Maxwell.)

                                                CSK’s *ahem* acclaimed *ahem* bowling unit

Ian Bishop made a comment during today’s match which hit squarely home, “CSK’s bowling attack is headed by the likes of Ashwin and Jadeja, backed up by Nehra and Sharma.” When your spinners are touted to be spearheading your bowling attack, Houston, we have a problem. Observing the above picture, you might wonder, why doesn’t CSK simply replace Nehra with Hilfenhaus? Seems an easy enough thing to do.

Compounding CSK’s bowling woes is IPL’s four overseas player cap, which in today’s case, was utilised to field McCullum, Smith, Bravo and Faf. Now, you see Chennai’s conundrum. With their fine display of explosive hitting, replacing McCullum and Smith at the top of the order is out of question. Bravo has proven himself to be adept at accelerating at ease as well as chipping in with some handy pace bowling. The question that now remains is whether to risk replacing Faf, and break the successful CSKian trend of batting deep, or placing your trust in the likes of Nehra and Sharma to be able to successfully defend par totals. (NOT!)

If their struggle to defend a massive total of 205, is anything to go by, the latter option seems to fly out the proverbial window. But knowing Dhoni, and his extremes of conservatism and faith in struggling players (aka Yuvraj), CSK might just be heading for a first round exit, courtesy Nehra.

Well, man lives to hope, and an injured lion is your worst enemy. Let us hope that Nehra can reproduce his dream run of 2003, where full tosses were rewarded with catches and Kenya reached the Semi-finals. (LOL). Until then, #whistlepodu!