As expected, Chennai Super Kings have won the title. I had written in one of the previous blog that CSK will scrape through but they won rather convincingly. This was their 4th title overall. Just one behind Mumbai. CSK really could have added a few more because they were part of 9 finals. It was an incredible achievement. Most of the CSK players are past their prime and quite a few of them are older than 37. Reflexes are bound to have come down a notch. Despite that they performed brilliantly throughout the tournament. Let me review the IPL 2021 finals and Chennai Super Kings.
Not much to write about KKR
Kolkatta Knight Riders were depended on their spinners, Varun and Narine, to a great extent. If they are nullified, the entire attack is insipid. The pitch for the finals was good for batting with absolutely no assistance either for the fast bowlers or for the spinners. The spinners didn’t have the impact that was expected of them. Venkatesh continued his impressive run with another 50. He may soon play for the Indian team atleast in the shortest format.
As expected, Morgan did not come up the order. Being the captain of an international team, he must have batted at number four but he didn’t. It did not reflect well on his confidence. Dinesh Karthik is certainly over the hill. It is time he bids adieu to the game and moved onto the commentary box. Aakash Chopra said,
“Although everything changed in the team, from their mindset to their approach, Morgan’s bad form did not change till the very last match. Even Dinesh Karthik’s form was missing. He even dropped catches.”
Nevertheless, from where they were during the first half to reach the final was an extraordinary achievement.
CSK were absolutely brilliant
The CSK batsmen were extremely confident when they came out to bat. They were positive right from the beginning.
Robin Uthappa played the spinners and in particular, Varun, pretty well. He had his game plan and was determined to hit Varun out of the attack. He managed to do that in spectacular style. How much did the KKR nets helped Uthappa against Varun will perhaps never bee known. Varun must have bowled all his variations to Uthappa at the nets. Uthappa used that experience to nullify the threat of Varun. Faf was brilliant. I must confess that after last year’s early exit, I really thought that Faf should not be part of the team any longer. He is old and his best days are certainly behind him. However, he proved me and doubters like me wrong. Just 3 runs separated him and Ruturaj for the most runs in the tournament.
Talking about Uthappa, CSK found their best middle order batsman at the right time. Raina wasn’t performing that well and he was replaced with Uthappa for the knockouts. Moeen Ali too had an excellent impact. For some reason, these discards from other teams perform pretty well when they are in CSK colours. Is that because of Dhoni or the franchise itself, we will never know.
It remains to be seen whom will the franchise retain in December. I expect Ruturaj, Dhoni and Jadeja to be retained. As for the rest, some will be bought back for certain.
The beautiful part of CSK winning the title was not the title itself. The franchise allowed the available family members to be part of the photo session. That shows how the franchise treats its players. I appreciate Mr. Srinivasan for this wonderful gesture.
The impact Ruturaj has had
Ruturaj really proved to be the game changer for CSK. Last year, when CSK went out well before the playoffs, Ruturaj played just a couple of games and that too after CSK never really had any chance to proceed to the playoffs. He showed his mettle even in that couple of games and he fulfilled the faith placed on him completely in 2021. He has already played a couple of T20s for India but didn’t have much impact. I am sure he will get his chance soon.
“I feel that he’s ready to play for the country. The way he has performed under pressure is commendable, even in the playoffs. He’s more of a Mahi bhai type of a person. He’s very calm and composed and works really hard,” said Raina.
What does the future hold for IPL?
It is time IPL allows all the teams to play a maximum of 6 foreigners. If not for all the games, they must be given an option of playing 6 foreigners in a maximum of 7 games. It is insane to see players like Steve Smith on the bench whereas some lesser players in the team play ahead of him. The franchises are free to choose which games do they have to play.
However, this being an Indian tournament, playoffs are off-limit and it must be restricted to a maximum of 4 because Indian cricketers must learn to play under pressure.
I take leave with Raina’s words
“We wanted to win it for Mahi Bhai. We wanted to win the trophy for the fans who were not able to come to watch us play in the stadium. It was a difficult phase and a lot of people supported us during that time. He just said ‘all the best’ and asked us to enjoy the game. The game is simple. When you have such a strong leader, then any player would wish to win for his team,” Raina added.