Chennai Super Kings: India’s Team? – Part 1

Manchester United and Arsenal in Football (Soccer), Dallas Cowboys in American Football, New York Yankees in Baseball and Los Angeles Lakers in Basketball are examples of sports teams that have national and international following. Built over years and generations of fan loyalty, an ever expanding fan base, a winning history, famous players, professional management and visionary owners these franchises go beyond their local fans to be loved and revered worldwide. This has helped them become Most Valuable Franchises, build iconic brands and are highly profitable. Dallas Cowboys is valued at $1.5 Billion by Forbes, making it the most valuable one in National Football League, not because they have been winning recently but because of the brand they have built over years

Every IPL franchise would like to become India's team. Pune Warriors and Kochi franchises are new and will take another few years to come into these discussions

• Why not Mumbai Indians?
  
  • Of Course: They have an icon in Sachin Tendulkar and entertainers like Turbantor, Keith Pollard and Lasith Malinga
    
  • No Way: After 3 years they have entered the Finals of IPL only last year and are yet to win any kind of a championship. Even though they retained 4 players, they let go many of their other players in the Auction. Their choice of a controversial player like Andrew Symonds to go along with Harbajan Singh may not be a smart move
    
• Why not Deccan Chargers?
  
  • Of Course: They have an IPL championship and were a semi finalist last year. They have a huge diaspora in the US
    
  • No Way: Their first year was a disaster and controversial players like Andrew Symonds, tainted Herschelle Gibbs and Shahid Afridi did their image no good They dismantled the whole team and are assembling a new one this year – lack of continuity hurts brand building
    
• Why not Royal Challengers Bangalore?
  
  • Of Course: They have made it to an IPL Final and Semi Final but have not won any championships. They have a highly affluent fan base in their local town. They had a good outing in the recent IPL auction where they had a few bargain deals
    
  • No Way: Their first season was forgettable. The hire and fire of Charu Sharma and open criticism of team composition that included iconic players like Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble and Jacques Kallis by their flamboyant owner have done no good. They too decided to dismantle the whole team barring Virat Kohli. They have very little local players who are well known – they lost Uthappa and Dravid and Anil Kumble retired
    
• Why not Rajasthan Royals?
  
  • Of Course: Their first season was a Cinderella story. Led by the iconic Shane Warne, a team of unknowns from a small town with a small budget, won the inaugural championship
    
  • No Way: Their last 2 IPL efforts have been forgettable. They are also in odds with BCCI that almost dissolved the franchise. They had a bad outing in the recent IPL Auction with a reduced budget and ended up with only a handful of players
    
• Why not Kings XI Punjab?
  
  • Of Course: Affable Preity Zinta
    
  • No Way: An average team that filled the bottom half of rankings the past 3 years. They let go all their previous players and mismanaged the recent IPL Auction and will continue with its mediocrity. The owners ran into problems that needed a court intervention to participate in IPL 4
    
• Why not Kolkata Knight Riders?
  
  • Of Course: SRK and till recently Dada. The made a splash in the recent IPL Auction and assembled match winners like Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan
    
  • No Way: Worst performer of all IPL teams in all 3 editions till date. The team became a joke in 2^nd season with Captaincy by committee. No player was retained, meaning none performed well enough
    
• Why not Delhi Dare Devils?
  
  • Of Course: Iconic player Virendra Sewhag
    
  • No Way: A team that failed to live up to its potential despite having the best opening pair and good bowlers. The team retained only Sehwag who was at odds with the team management in the last but one season. The IPL Auction was forgettable and their mediocrity will continue
    

Of the above, only Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore have a chance to play catch up with Chennai Super Kings. We will see how Chennai fares against these teams in the next blog and see how they measure up to being India's team

Please share your feedback and comments

CSK in IPL Auction 2011: Grades

CSK's day at the auction showed how lucky they were in retaining 4 players. With Gambhir, Yusuf Pathan and Robin Uthappa going well over $2Mn, the worth of the 4 CSK players should be no less than $8 Mn (MSD: $3 Mn, Suresh Raina: $2.5 Mn, Murali Vijay: $2 Mn and Albie Morkel: $1+ Mn)

CSK was relentless in pursuing their ex-players and brought back Ashwin, Mike Hussey and Badrinath. The loss of Murali and Balaji, despite bidding $1 Mn and $0.475 Mn, will hurt but atleast they gave a sincere attempt

CSK strengthened its allrounders pool with the addition of Dwayne Bravo and Scott Styris and wicket keeping with Wridhaman Saha. Suraj Randhiv and Nuwan Kulasekara add value in strengthening the bowling department and also the Srilankan fan base

Let us evaluate the players we have in each of the positions and hand over Grades. In addition to rating the skill levels of the players, some team attributes like Dressing Room Chemistry and Leadership, Fair Play, Crowd Pulling ability, Bench Strength, Foreign - Indian Player Mix, and Country Representation have also been evaluated

Captaincy: A+
Captain Cool comes with an impressive resume - IPL Championship, Champions League Winners, and Finalist and Semi Finalist in first 2 IPL events. MSD brings a certain calmness, assured confidence and downplayed swagger to the team. He has the respect of experienced and foreign players and the awe of the rest. He works with the coaches pretty well and brings the crowds to the ground and to TV sets

Opening Batsmen (2): B+
In Mike Hussey and Murali Vijay, CSK has a pretty good opening pair. However, Mike is recovering from an hamstring injury and Vijay had a forgettable series in South Africa. Both will not be participating in the World Cup as well and may have some rust at the beginning of the IPL tournament. There are no reserves at this position

Middle Order Batsmen (3): B
Suresh Raina is a champ and a proven finisher. Badrinath is a consistent contributor but not a match winner. George Bailey is an unknown commodity in Indian conditions and against spin. There are no other specialists at this position

Wicket Keeper (1): A
Dhoni is a reliable wicket keeper and a useful lower order batsman. Wridhaman Saha is the young colt who has the potential to fill a middle order slot based on his batting alone

All Rounders (2): A+
Albie Morkel set the grounds on fire in IPL and Champions League with inspired performances. Dwayne Bravo and Scott Styris are two excellent additions and 1 out of these 2 will join Albie in the playing eleven. Bravo's limited availability for the 2011 event and Styris' recent lack of form should be a concern. We saw Francois Du Plessis in the recent SA series and he is expected to be in the reserves

Fast Bowlers (2): A
Doug Bollinger had been a class act in IPL 3 and is the strike bowler for CSK. Ben Hifenhaus is a very good fast bowler who can complement Dougie. Nuwan Kulasekara is a capable reserve. Sudeep Tyagi and Joginder Sharma will be in play in certain Foreigner - Indian mix scenarios

Spin Bowlers (2): B+
Ashwin was the find of IPL3 and is CSK's No. 2 bowler behind Doug. The loss of Murali will definitely hurt the bowling department. Suraj Randhiv is a capable No. 2 spinner. Given the challenges in other positions, the team would prefer Indian players for both positions and addition of Shadab Jakati will be a welcome move

Fielding: B+
CSK has a solid but not a spectacular fielding team. Suresh Raina and Badrinath are excellent fielders, Murali and Mike Hussey have safe pair of hands and the rest of the team are reliable fielders

Bench Strength: B
The team has built a solid bench for all rounders, fast bowlers and wicket keeper. However, reserves for spin bowling is weak and non existent for specialist batsmen (both opening and middle order)

Foreign - Player Mix: A
The foreigners pool is pretty solid and will exclusively man all rounders, fast bowlers and one of the 2 opener positions. Indians will fill in wicket keeper, spinners, middle order batsmen and one of the 2 opening slots. In all the balance looks pretty good

Dressing Room: A
CSK will have the largest number of returning players that will help build on their team chemistry and help induct new members into the team easily. The departure of Murali and Hayden will affect the leadership in the dressing room but Mike Hussey, Scott Styris and Dwayne Bravo will be expected to step up. The dressing room will continue to have a serious outlook with the exception of Suresh Raina. The identity of the team is talk less, do more and barring Andrew Flintoff a couple of years back, the rest of the team members try to remain low profile and let their play talk. The team has a few match winners but several team players

Fair Play: A+
CSK has always scored high on fair play and has won some awards as well. One can expect that with continuity, strong leadership and culture, CSK will continue to play a fair game

Crowd Pullers: A
MSD continues to be the biggest crowd puller apart from SRT and SRK. Doug Bollinger, Ashwin and Albie Morkel have impressed the audience with their performances. All rounders are always popular and the addition of Dwayne Bravo will help approve the team's appeal. The loss of Murali and Hayden is a dampener. However the team has the solid backing of its knowledgeable but conservative Chennai crowd. Being Champions and having non controversial players, the team has a neutral to high level of appeal to non Chennai crowds

Country Representation: B+
Players from Srilanka, Australia and South Africa are well represented in the team. Dwayne Bravo brings the West India flavor. After Flintoff the team lacks representation from England and Bangaldesh does not have representation as well

In summary, the team is shaping up well but need some strong local talent especially in specialized batting (opening and middle order) and spin bowling. The reserves need to be in place to make it a well rounded team

Overall the team gets an A- for its performance at the Player Auction

I hope this is a good start to the Blog and I look forward to your comments and feedback to get the engine cranking full speed. With a couple of months to go for IPL, it is a good time to start building up steam and passion for our team