Dwayne Bravo makes case for CSK’s ‘spent’ players in dramatic win over Mumbai Indians

In the lead up to the 2018 Indian Premier League season, Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming was forced to allocated a lot of his time in trying to dismiss perceptions that the team management had picked a bunch of “spent” players.

Returning to the fold after after serving a two-year suspension, CSK have bet huge of assembling a squad full of experience players, many of whom are in their mid-30s. Skipper MS Dhoni and all-rounder Shane Watson are 36. Harbhabjan Singh is 37. Dwayne Bravo and Kedar Jadhav are 34 and 33 respectively. Imran Tahir is side’s oldest player at 39.

“Experienced players play major parts in the whole tournament, so that’s why I value experience,” Fleming argued ahead of Chennai’s first game on return.

“It’s also about the quality of player, like (Dwayne) Bravo is still competing well, (Shane) Watson’s competing well, Harbhajan (Singh) has great skill sets and Dhoni is a fine leader. So the players we’ve picked, I don’t think they’re spent by any means,” Fleming had said.

On Saturday, the age difference between the two sides was quite evident. Mumbai Indians sported a relatively young side in contrast to the experienced line-up of CSK.

In the the crunch situation, though, it was this experience that showed as CSK edged the defending champions by one-wicket in a thrilling encounter in Mumbai.

Dramatic finish

With 47 needed off 18 balls, not many would have given CSK a chance. The hosts had a vociferous Wankhede crowd behind them. A flurry of wickets had shifted the momentum of the game squarely in favour of the defending champs. More importantly, CSK had just two wickets in hand and one of them had retired hurt early in the innings.

The experienced Bravo wasn’t in the mood to mull over such extenuating circumstances though. He just saw the ball, knew he had a bat in his hand and had the boundary rope in his peripheral vision. What followed was nothing short of a blitzkrieg.

The offensive strategy changed the course of the game in Chennai’s favour. Bravo almost pulled a rabbit out of the hat, with three sixes in five balls. He raced to 68 off 30 balls turning the match on its head.

The twists did not end there as he fell immediately after, tilting the game in Mumbai’s favour. Injured Kedar returned to the field and played out three dot balls in the final over as struggled to cope with his hamstring injury. But, he showed that Bravo wasn’t the only magician in the ranks. He kept his nerve and got down on one knee to pull a six over the fine leg fence. He clobbered the next ball through the covers for a boundary to hand his side a grand return to the IPL.

Young and old

It was Mumbai young brigade that got the game going in the first innings. The hosts were pegged back at 20/2 at one stage, before young duo Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan stitched together a crucial 78-run stand to take their side near the 100-run mark. The partnership was broken by Watson, who tempted Suryakumar into another aerial shot. Tahir soon dismissed Kishan to bring the game on an even keel.

A late flourish by Krunal and Hardik Pandya threatened to restore Mumbai’s supremacy, but Bravo was up to the task. He bowled clever last over the soften the blow for CSK. Bravo conceded only 11 runs in his last three overs in the death.

Despite the modest total, Mumbai’s bowlers came hard at Chennai. The wrecker-in-chief turned out to 20-year-old Mayank Markande. Making his debut, Markande dismissed Dhoni and sent back the dangerous Ambati Rayudu, before getting Deepak Chahar stumped.

Young Markande, though, was upstaged by Bravo’s late pyrotechnics. The Trinidadian came into bat with CSK reeling at 75/5. CSK needed another 91 runs of eight overs. Instead of sitting back, Bravo went on the offensive and even targeted Markande, who till then was the pick of the bowlers for Mumbai.

Finishing touches

Kedar too limped off the field, just as Bravo was settling down. CSK lost three more wickets in quick succession. Bravo, though, maintained his aggressive approach at the other end. He smashed a boundary in nearly every over, keeping CSK abreast with the steep required run-rate. Mumbai, though, had the edge.

But, all that changed in the 18th over. Bravo came into his own, clobbering Mitchell McCleneghan, who ended up conceding 20 runs in that over. He would continue with the offensive in the following over as well, this time clearing the fence off Bumrah’s bowling.

However, just as it appeared he had taken CSK across the line, he perished with his side needing seven runs off the final over.

Fortunately for CSK, Kedar was fit enough to take the field. Despite his discomfort, he kept his wits about him to add the finishing touches to what was a dramatic encounter.

The twists and turns highlighted just why fans are head over heals in love with Twenty20 cricket. It is a format that almost always skews the course of a predictable finish. All that is required are a bunch of players who believe it’s possible. Age, at such times, as Fleming will tell you is irrelevant.