IPL Chennai Super Kings
The costliest cricketer of the first season of the IPL and the captain of the Indian ODI and T20 teams, had been signed up by Chennai Super Kings, so was a cricketer with the highest Test and ODI average in contemporary cricket. If you add a Mathew Hayden, Stephen Fleming, Jacob Oram and an Albie Morkel to that list, we would be looking at a very strong team, with all their bases covered. The Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings is a team to look out for in this first season of the IPL, and one would not be surprised if they go all the way in this season.
This is the current squad of the Chennai Super Kings, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chennai_Super_Kings#Current_Squad, and on deeper inspection, it seems to have a good blend of great and good, batsmen, bowlers and all rounders. And while they did not have an icon player – one of the three teams not to – they bought the Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni for a whopping $1.5 million, making him the costliest ever cricketer in this season. Surprisingly, Mathew Hayden cost only $3,50,000 and Suresh Raina was bought for $6,50,000.
Chennai Super Kings’ biggest strength is no doubt their skipper, M.S. Dhoni. Now while a T20 format could very well be a jackpot of sorts, Dhoni’s influence could very well be a huge positive. He has already led the Indian team to a World T20 Cup victory, and his record after that has been impressive. So much so, that Mathew Hayden seems to have called Dhoni as a very inspiring leader, with a sense of aura around him. This, coming from a man who has played under some captains; Aussies at that too. Chennai’s bowling is something to gloat over about as well, with Murali, Ntini, Morkel and Oram forming the crux of the same, where as Indians like a Joginder Sharma and Manpreet Gony providing the support staff.
Chennai does not seem to have a lot of weaknesses; however, given the cap of a maximum of four foreign players that can play in any match, it would be a difficult job for Dhoni to do. Also, Joginder Sharma is not a bowler who inspires too much confidence on flat bowling tracks, and with the rest of the Indians either injured or too raw, it would take a lot out of Dhoni’s capabilities as a skipper to get the best out of them.
Chennai Super Kings is being coached by the straight talking, Kepler Wessels, who was once tipped to be the coach of the Indian National Team, former dashing Indian opener, Kris Srikkanth is their brand ambassador while V.B. Chandrasekhar – another former Indian opener – is the Chief Selector for the team.
One could tip them as one of the strong contenders for the trophy, if not the best, one of the top four in the reckoning. With the first season of ICL having being won by the Chennai SuperStars, it would be befitting if their IPL counterparts won it here!
