Chennai’s all-time low show beckons a revamp of the team

By K.R. Nayar 

 Mumbai Indians exposes the weaklings in Chennai Super Kings to inflict the biggest defeat on the team

In sport, there is a history of teams that have reigned at the top to go on and lose their dominance with time.  Chennai Super Kings' crushing 10-wicket defeat at the hands of Mumbai Indians and helplessly being confined to the bottom of the table is a current instance.  On Friday, Chennai, which has consistently recorded many highs in the Indian Premier League (IPL), hit an all-time low with a thud. Never have they lost by 10 wickets in the history of the IPL.

No one would have ever thought that their skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, known as the captain with the Midas touch, will ever have to remark: “Captains can’t run away. So I’ll be playing in all the games.” It was never expected that Dhoni, as the losing captain, would ever have to make statements like “you need a bit of luck to go your way” and also that “this year hasn't been our year.”

It was a team that had never bothered about the luck factor. On Friday, Dhoni introduced youngsters Ruturaj Gaekwad and Narayan Jagadeesan to wipe away the tag of an aging team.  Both scored ducks and Gaekwad fielded poorly too. On Thursday, Mumbai’s bowling was of the highest standard. Their pacer Trent Boult lived up to his nickname 'Lightning Bolt' and moved the white ball brilliantly. With Jasprit Bumrah at his usual best, the Chennai batsmen perished one after the other. And if the humiliation from the pacers was not enough, spinner Rahul Chahar too struck, leading to a procession of the batsmen to the pavilion and a new low for the team.

A team that has given so much joy to its fans over the years lost four wickets for three runs. An ardent Chennai fan may still have hoped that it could be Dhoni’s day with the bat. But he too walked away after hitting one six, crushing all hopes of a comeback, and Chennai was six wickets down for 30. From then on it was a matter of how humiliating would the defeat be.

The possibility of Chennai being bowled out for lower than 49 runs, the lowest total in the IPL by Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2017, loomed large. However, Sam Curran rescued Chennai from that embarrassing record with one of the finest fighting knocks of the season.  Through his half-century, he announced that he is the future star of the IPL.

Mumbai openers Ishan Kishan and Quinton De Kock then exposed the lack of bite in Chennai’s bowling by remaining unconquered. The pair sent out a message that it’s time Chennai revamped their team with skillful and energetic youngsters.