I seem to have underestimated the reach of my blog, because Captain Cool MSD seems to have taken heed of my fair warning and replaced Nehra straight away, leading to a mammoth 94 run win. The fact that Dwayne Bravo sustained an injury might have helped along the decision making process, but let us not lose the big picture among the details.
Humour aside, three words made the win look so easy today : Quality Pace Bowling. Taking quick wickets up front is vital in the smallest format of the game, and Ishwar Pandey, inexperienced as he might seem, delivered to perfection. It might have been beginners' luck or the DD batsmen were in the mood for a bout of catching practice (and thank god we held on to them), but only time and few more outings for the CSK will reveal the depth of his talent.
With Dwayne Bravo out of the picture, Ben Hilfenhaus was handed the baton, and I felt he was right to play second fiddle to Pandey, keeping the pressure on the batsmen and swinging the ball both ways. An economy of 4.50 in an IPL match is most definitely one to be proud of, and with a more or less guaranteed place in the side, we can expect consistent performances from the strapping Aussie.
The testimony to the rise in the class of pace bowling is the fact that MSD didn't feel the need to hand the ball to the spinners until late into the innings. The spinners just bowled 4 and half overs among them, though picking up four wickets in the process, which bucked the CSKian trend of spin spearheading the attack, as I mentioned in my previous post. This certainly bodes well for the Chennai Super Kings, who can now depend on their strike bowlers to deliver the early breakthroughs.
Ravichandran Ashwin is always a delight to watch, with his arsenal of variations and deceptions. It was quite a lovely delivery that bowled Dinesh Karthik over, which just goes to show the constancy with which Ashwin delivers. There are no words for a man who is announced to the crease as SIR Ravindra Jadeja, but that this man has delivered time and again, for both CSK and India, with both bat and ball, and there can be no replacing him.
Lastly and most importantly, this match gave us a chance to fully understand the depth of our batting line up. As my favorite commentator, Danny Morrison said,"It's all quite well for a bowler to get McCullum and Smith out, but with the likes of Raina, Faf and MSD to come in, he's got his work quite cut out." Truer words have never been spoken. When five of your batsmen have strike rates nudging 200, I think it's safe to say that batting is the least of your concerns.
This CSK win was a complete all-round victory for the side and there is only one way to go from here and that is up. Watch out for the exciting new talent that is Ishwar Pandey and some bigger wins from the Men in Yellow. Until next time, #WhistlePodu!
Humour aside, three words made the win look so easy today : Quality Pace Bowling. Taking quick wickets up front is vital in the smallest format of the game, and Ishwar Pandey, inexperienced as he might seem, delivered to perfection. It might have been beginners' luck or the DD batsmen were in the mood for a bout of catching practice (and thank god we held on to them), but only time and few more outings for the CSK will reveal the depth of his talent.
With Dwayne Bravo out of the picture, Ben Hilfenhaus was handed the baton, and I felt he was right to play second fiddle to Pandey, keeping the pressure on the batsmen and swinging the ball both ways. An economy of 4.50 in an IPL match is most definitely one to be proud of, and with a more or less guaranteed place in the side, we can expect consistent performances from the strapping Aussie.
The testimony to the rise in the class of pace bowling is the fact that MSD didn't feel the need to hand the ball to the spinners until late into the innings. The spinners just bowled 4 and half overs among them, though picking up four wickets in the process, which bucked the CSKian trend of spin spearheading the attack, as I mentioned in my previous post. This certainly bodes well for the Chennai Super Kings, who can now depend on their strike bowlers to deliver the early breakthroughs.
Ravichandran Ashwin is always a delight to watch, with his arsenal of variations and deceptions. It was quite a lovely delivery that bowled Dinesh Karthik over, which just goes to show the constancy with which Ashwin delivers. There are no words for a man who is announced to the crease as SIR Ravindra Jadeja, but that this man has delivered time and again, for both CSK and India, with both bat and ball, and there can be no replacing him.
Lastly and most importantly, this match gave us a chance to fully understand the depth of our batting line up. As my favorite commentator, Danny Morrison said,"It's all quite well for a bowler to get McCullum and Smith out, but with the likes of Raina, Faf and MSD to come in, he's got his work quite cut out." Truer words have never been spoken. When five of your batsmen have strike rates nudging 200, I think it's safe to say that batting is the least of your concerns.
This CSK win was a complete all-round victory for the side and there is only one way to go from here and that is up. Watch out for the exciting new talent that is Ishwar Pandey and some bigger wins from the Men in Yellow. Until next time, #WhistlePodu!
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