Chennai Super Kings fans expected a miracle with MS Dhoni back as leader. What they got was the exact opposite – the worst batting effort at home which has raised multiple questions about the team and its approach.
Let’s face it… No captain can do much with this team. You don’t have a single player except Shivam Dube who can perhaps hit the ball. You have openers who aren’t equipped to play the modern version of T20 cricket and then you have many who are past their prime. It just doesn’t happen like this and no Midas touch can do anything to change the team’s fortunes.
Also, remember Stephen Fleming said they were lacking home advantage. They wanted the wicket to turn and it did. Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy ran through them and even Moeen Ali looked unplayable. It was a limp batting effort that every CSK fan will find hard to digest.
Face it. It is time to call time. Even if it is a brand call, you need to win to back the brand. If you don’t win, even the greatest of brands will be tarnished. Dhoni became Dhoni at the back of five titles. Had he not won them, there was no cult. If his team plays like this, questions will be asked. Already there are murmurs and they will only get louder.
CSK have become a prisoner of an outdated brand of T20. Uninspiring auction picks like Rahul Tripathi and Deepak Hooda, for example, have made matters worse.
The bitter truth is that you don’t want to be a CSK fan tonight, for it is torture. Painful and pathetic.