IPL 2020: A complete SWOT Analysis of all eight teams

Chennai Super Kings

Squad-M.S Dhoni(c), KM Asif, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Piyush Chawla, Sam Curran, Faf du Plesis, Rituraj Gaikwad, Josh Hazlewood, Imran Tahir, Ravindra Jadeja, Kedar Jadhav, Narayan Jagadeesan, Monu Kumar, Lungi Ngidi, Ambati Rayudu, R sai Kishore, Mitchell Santner, Karn Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Murali Vijay, Shane Watson

Strengths

• Threatening Spin department- While Chennai Super Kings pick a spin heavy squad every season as they play their homes games in Chepauk, a very low and slow pitch, playing the entire season in UAE might benefit them even more as all games will be played on relatively slower tracks. They easily have the most experienced and highest quality spin core. In Ravindra Jadeja and Imran Tahir, who was the purple cap winner last season, CSK has the perfect troika of spinners, who offer a lot of variety and are highly experienced. On top of that they have the likes of Piyush Chawla, Mitchell Santner, Karn Sharma and U19 sensation R Sai Kishore, and all these spinners form a threatening group which is capable of performing against each and every batting lineup.

• Wealth of Experience- When CSK picked a squad in 2018 whose average age was well above 30, a number of jokes about CSK being a “Daddy’s Army’ were floated around. CSK fittingly gave a reply to critics by comprehensively winning the cup, thereby showcasing the importance of experience in a tournament like IPL. This time around too, CSK have a similar squad with the core from 2018 retained. CSK has continued to back their team, and it is likely to hold them in good stead again, as experience usually trumps potential in high pressure games.

Weakness

• Lack of Match Practice- You might say this applies to every team since not much professional cricket has been played in the last 6 months, but it is important to note half of CSK hasn’t played cricket for far longer. Dhoni didn’t play a single game after the 2019 World Cup in July last year. Faf du Plessis and Kedar Jadhav fell out of favor with their national teams. Shane Watson, who had retired, along with Suresh Raina,  and Dwayne Bravo also didn’t play much cricket after last year’s IPL. That in effect is 6/11 players. This could be a huge concern for CSK as their players are bound to be way more rusty than the others and likely to struggle due to the long break.

Opportunity

• The pitches in UAE are sure to suit the style of play of CSK and they would be looking to capitalise on that with their army of spinners.

Threat

• At the other end of the spectrum of experience lies injuries. With most of the crucial members 35+, the players may struggle with fitness and injuries especially after such a long gap.

Potential Surprises– R Sai Kishore, Lungi Ngidi