MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings have many players who are over 30 and although they have defied the odds in the Indian Premier League, IPL 2020 might be a bridge too far.
MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings have been a dominant side in the history of the Indian Premier League. The three-time champions have reached the knock-out stages in every tournament that they have featured in. In IPL 2018, Chennai Super Kings defied the odds and won the tournament on their comeback despite having many players over 30. In IPL 2019, they almost pulled it off again after topping the league stages but they once again fell short in the final as they were defeated by Mumbai Indians.
In IPL 2020, after starting off well, MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings have lost three consecutive games and are now at the bottom of the table. What was once considered an asset is now proving to be a curse in the tough conditions of the UAE. The age of the players, in the heat and humidity of the UAE, is taking a toll on the Chennai Super Kings players.
Ambati Rayudu pulled out of two games due to a hamstring injury while Dwayne Bravo also missed three games due to a knee injury which he sustained in the Caribbean Premier League 2020. Chennai Super Kings are called the ‘Dad’s Army’ because most of the players in the side are over 30. In the playing 11, majority of the players are over 30 and some have retired from international cricket. In the entire squad of 22, 11 players are over the age of 30 while only a few are less than 25. Here is the age of the Chennai Super Kings squad in IPL 2020.
Ages of the Chennai Super Kings squad
Batsmen
Murali Vijay – Age 36, Ambati Rayudu – Age 35, Faf du Plessis – Age 36, Ruturaj Gaikwad – Age 23
All-rounders age
Shane Watson – Age 39, Dwayne Bravo – Age 36, Kedar Jadhav – Age 35, Ravindra Jadeja – Age 31, Piyush Chawla – Age 31, Mitchell Santner – Age 28, Sam Curran – Age 22, Monu Kumar – Age 25
Wicketkeepers
MS Dhoni – Age 39, Narayan Jagadeesan – Age 24
Bowlers
Shardul Thakur – Age 28, Deepak Chahar – Age 28, KM Asif – Age 27, Imran Tahir – Age 41, Karn Sharma – Age 32, Josh Hazlewood – Age 29, Lungi Ngidi - Age 24, R Sai Kishore – Age 23
Half old, half young
When one looks at the composition of the Chennai Super Kings team, only one batsmen is under 30 and that is Ruturaj Gaikwad. The rest of the batsmen, Murali Vijay, Shane Watson, Dwayne Bravo, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni and Faf du Plessis are all over 30 and 35 plus years. So, the batting group and the all-rounder group is pretty senior as compared to other teams.
The only youngsters seem to be in the bowling group. Barring Imran Tahir, the rest of the bowling is not over 30 barring Piyush Chawla and Ravindra Jadeja.
This is NOT to imply that with age, one cannot perform. MS Dhoni and his Chennai Super Kings have performed admirably in previous IPLs with the same group. However, perhaps with the extreme UAE conditions and with a long break due to the coronavirus lockdown, it has probably affected the rhythm of the players. Three consecutive losses in the IPL is not a good sign for Chennai Super Kings.
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 "MS Dhoni CSK vs SRH IPL 2020")
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