IPL 2018: Squad analysis of MS Dhoni's 'Yellow Brigade'
Follow UsIndian Premier League's (IPL) widely celebrated franchise, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are coming back into the scheme of things after facing two-year suspension for alleged spot-fixing.
The 11th edition of premier league is just around the corner with the Yellow Brigade already becoming the cynosure of social media and cricket fans with their comprehensive team roster to be led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
As the CSK will take on holders Mumbai Indians to kick-start the 2018 edition on April 7 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, here's an overall analysis of the newly formed team.
Chennai retained Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja before the auction.
They have also made some exciting buys in the auction, with Dwayne Bravo, Imran Tahir, Shane Watson, Murali Vijay, Mark Wood, and Harbhajan Singh set to play for the franchise, this year.
The team surprised everyone when they bought former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson for Rs 4 crore, which was four times his base price.
Being one of the most successful franchises in IPL cricket, the team is weak when it comes to Indian medium pacers. The team will enter the ground with over-reliance on foreign seemers.
Apart, Shardul Thakur, who has some international experience and Deepak Chahar with experience in few IPL games, the team relies on foreign seamers.
Ravindra Jadeja, Imran Tahir, Karn Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, and Mitchell Santner forms their spin bowling department along with the part-timers, Suresh Raina and Kedar Jadhav.
Other than this, it would be important for CSK skipper Dhoni to return in his form.
Many cricketing experts raised serious questions over CSK's ability to win games in seamer-friendly conditions.
In the last few years, the right-hand batsman's abilities have been questioned a lot as his big hitting seems to be on a downward curve.
The former Indian captain’s strike rate in the IPL 2017 was a poor 115, considering his strike rate was 163 and 149 in IPL 2013 and 2014 respectively.
As per a record, in 2017, Dhoni managed to score only 15 boundaries and 16 sixes in 16 matches.
However, CSK has the most experienced players in this squad with 10 out of 25 of them being above the age of 30.
The list includes key players like Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, Shane Watson, Dwayne Bravo, Harbhajan Singh, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir and Kedar Jadhav, and most of them are expected to start every IPL game.
Here's the compete squad of the Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina, Kedar Jadhav, Dwayne Bravo, Karn Sharma, Shane Watson, Shardul Thakur, Ambati Rayudu, Murali Vijay, Harbhajan Singh, Faf Du Plessis, Mark Wood, Sam Billings, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, Mitchell Santner, Lungisani Ngidi, Asif K M, N Jagadeesan, Kanishk Seth, Monu Singh, Dhruv Shorey, Kshitiz Sharma, Chaitanya Bishnoi
Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals have marked their return after a 2-year ban with MS Dhoni and Steve Smith respectively as their skippers, here is a list of all the captains who will lead their teams in the 11th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) (WION)