This is just my thoughts and you might or might not agree with this. Thanks for the read.
We all knew that Mumbai Indians had an edge coming into this contest, thanks to their players who are all in good form and as expected they won the match against the hosts to become the first team to go into the final.
I can point out a lot of things that didn’t go CSK’s way. To start with, the batting.
Batting:
Right from game one, I did love the way how MS Dhoni backed a few players in the team, and Shane Watson is one of them.
Watson came into this tournament with the player of the tournament award in the PSL and was expected to do great here as well but unfortunately, he couldn’t except for the matches against Sunrisers Hyderabad. He struggled throughout the tournament. I don’t see Dhoni making any more changes in the team because it’s too late but yes, I would have liked to try some other player in the place of Watson early on in the tournament.
Well, literally every single batter failed this year. Dhoni was the only consistent performer, and when he couldn’t get that extra 20 runs for the team, the batting order is exposed.
Watson normally takes time, settles down, hits deliveries every nook and corner of the ground, but the initial pressure of scoring in the powerplay was adding the pressure on both Faf du Plessis and Watson. Both the players did worse against the spin this year. Murali Vijay who was timing the ball well could have got an opportunity to open the innings.
Coming to the middle order, We always had Suresh Raina playing excellent knocks but this time it was all too straight forward, and against Mumbai, Rohit Sharma who believes so much in stats and analytics brought in Jayant Yadav mainly for Raina and Raina got out in a similar fashion he did in the other game at Chepauk. For someone who is super experienced as Raina, we do expect better. Coming to Rayudu, had he not play his innings today, CSK wouldn’t have had a fighting total, but Rayudu is better than this. He is capable of hitting boundaries something exactly what Suryakumar Yadav did today for Mumbai Indians. Maybe the pressure of not scoring more is hurting him.
Of course, a lot of credits to the Mumbai bowlers, especially Jasprit Bumrah who bowled an excellent final over against Dhoni. To me, that over made the difference.
Deepak Chahar did well initially to dismiss Rohit Sharma early, and the plan to dismiss Quinton De Kock worked as well.
When Suryakumar Yadav was joined by Ishan Kishan, all they had to do was build a partnership. For CSK, they needed wickets.
Fielding:
Probably, one of the worst days for the Kings at the field today. Murali Vijay, Shane Watson gave life to Suryakumar Yadav, the man who changed MI’s fate today.
In a low scoring match like this, even a slight opportunity should be converted as a wicket in order to win the match. CSK didn’t do that.
Bowling:
As Dhoni said in the post-match presentation, the bowlers were plain, straight and didn’t try many variations. Also, they were bowling to the strength of Suryakumar Yadav who is a good cutter of the ball.
Of course, if the catch was taken, things would have been different but you have to move on.
Also, I felt that Dhoni wasn’t attacking the batters well today. Both Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav was picking up the singles easily. Most importantly, I would have preferred a better fielder at the backward point, a place where Suryakumar Yadav is good at. Also, the bowlers weren’t bowling to their field on a few occasions. With a total less on the board, the best bowler in the team must come in early. Today, Imran Tahir came only after Ravindra Jadeja. Of course, Jadeja is good but Tahir is in a great form.
I personally loved how both Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan didn’t try to hit the ball hard but to rotate the strike and build the partnership. Also, a good captaincy from Rohit Sharma who always does his ground study well for each and every batsman. Jayant Yadav was an excellent pick to the team despite the fact that they took him on later in the innings.
I still hope that CSK some back stronger to the final.
