Chennai Super Kings (CSK) scored a fearsome 242 for six against Dolphins in the Champions League T20 (CLT20) 2014. Their batsmen were relentless in their attack, massacring the bowling attack with maximum prejudice. Shiamak Unwalla feels that this performance was a very clear message of intimidation to the rest of the sides in CLT20.
CSK is a side of batting juggernauts. They have proven this time and again for years now. They have a CLT20 title, two IPL titles, have been three-time IPL finalists, and two-time IPL semi-finalists. They are led by the man who led India to the ICC World Cup 2011 victory.
Their batting order begins with a man who scored 158 in the very first IPL match ever — Brendon McCullum — and a man who can hit sixes almost at will — Dwayne Smith. At No 3, they have Suresh Raina, the leading run-scorer in all IPL. Perhaps the least intimidating batsman in their top four is Faf du Plessis; a man who just scored three tons and a ninety in five international outings.
The fact that they have Dwayne Smith, MS Dhoni, and Ravindra Jadeja to follow, says a lot about how deep and how dangerous their batting is — something that was made explicitly clear to the Dolphins, who drowned under a violent ocean of runs.
Despite the early loss of Smith — in the very first over — McCullum and Raina put scored their runs at a searing pace. McCullum was brutal in particular; the way he stepped out to pace bowler Craig Alexander and swung him over long on for six stood out as a mark of utter disrespect. Raina was as usual severe on anything even remotely short. His technique against sheer pace in bouncy conditions might still be suspect, but on this Bangalore pitch at that pace, he had no problems depositing the ball well into the stands on multiple occasions.
What really stood out was the way CSK were unrelenting in their approach to score runs. Smith started proceedings with a six. Though he was dismissed, McCullum and Raina were on the attack almost immediately. Once McCullum was dismissed, du Plessis kept taking the ones to give Raina the strike. Raina was dismissed off the second ball of the 14th over; du Plessis hit the next two balls of that same over for boundaries.
Dhoni was out first ball. The next four balls of the match yielded 15 runs. Bravo got off the mark with a boundary off his first ball. Once Alexander dismissed du Plessis, it was Jadeja’s turn to shine, massacring poor Keshav Maharaj for 23 runs off his first five balls.
The message CSK sent was loud and clear. They have not won an IPL title for three years. They have not come close to winning a CLT20 title for as long. Raina helped them make 100 runs in six overs in the IPL 2014 semi-finals, and they still lost. They were beaten by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their first game of CLT20 2014 thanks to some freak hitting by Andre Russell and Ryan ten Doeschate. The CSK beast has awoken. They will no longer be looking to win; they will be looking to dominate.
It is still early days, and this crash-and-smash approach could backfire. But when a side scores 240 runs in 20 overs, they are usually doing it to make a statement. The teams facing CSK would do well to up their game, or risk ending up battered and bruised by the Dolphins.
(Shiamak Unwallais a reporter with CricketCountry. He is a self-confessed Sci-Fi geek and Cricket fanatic who likes to pass his free time by reading books, watching TV shows, and eating food. Sometimes all at the same time)
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