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): BSuresh 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): ADhoni 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): ADoug
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: BThe 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: AThe 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: ACSK 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: AMSD 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 C
hennai 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 AuctionI 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
