IPL 2019: Vintage MS Dhoni takes charge as Chennai Super Kings execute their plans to perfection

Chennai Super Kings’ eight-run victory over Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League on Sunday served an important lesson for the rest of the teams in the tournament. The defending champions showed that if you have the discipline to stick to your plans through the various stages of a match, you’re likely to end up on the right side of the result.

There’s an air of certainty every time Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s CSK take the field. The comparatively high average age of the team has truly been one of its biggest assets since the franchise made a comeback to the T20 tournament last year. Every player seems to know exactly what is needed of him. No matter what the conditions are, the team knows how to find a way out.

Against Rajasthan Royals at Chepauk on Sunday, there were several stages where the game could’ve easily slipped out of the hosts’ hands. But to tackle each of those stages, there were definite plans in place which were executed to perfection.

Rebuilding under pressure

Ajinkya Rahane won the toss and had little hesitation in opting to field first. It was an obvious decision considering the amount of dew both teams witnessed the previous night during practice. It was bound to get harder to grip the ball as the game progressed.

The visitors were coming in on the back of successive defeats. Rahane and Co would have been desperate for a bright start and putting Chennai in to bat on a pitch that was still a mystery was crucial. And they achieved it, too, with Ambati Rayudu, Shane Watson and Kedar Jadhav departing inside the first five overs.

At that time, it looked like a major upset was on the cards. The Super Kings, however, aren’t known to panic. They needed to take control of the pace of the game and resurrect the innings. And they had just the right men at the crease to do that – captain Dhoni and his trusted lieutenant Suresh Raina. The senior pros, as they have done so often in the past, started building a partnership with clear roles in place for each of them. Dhoni would soak in the pressure and look to rotate strike, with Raina taking calculated risks.

The southpaw upped the ante only after playing out a few overs first. Once he did decide to attack, there weren’t any wild hoicks, but tried and tested strokes like the drive over covers and the sweep over mid-wicket. By the time Raina was dismissed after scoring an impactful 36 off 32, CSK had gone from 27/3 to 88/4 in less than eight overs.

Dhoni takes centerstage

Chennai’s next big move begun with the 18th over. Dhoni had Dwayne Bravo for company and the experienced duo knew that it was time for the final onslaught. Dhawal Kulkarni was taken for 24 runs in that over, with both Dhoni and Bravo hitting a six each.

Pacer Jofra Archer [2/17 from 4] then did well to give away just eight runs and remove Bravo in the penultimate over. But Dhoni’s plan, which he had systematically developed through the course of 14 overs, wasn’t going to be foiled right at the end. The 37-year-old, along with Ravindra Jadeja, took apart Jaydev Unadkat in the final over to get 28 runs. The skipper finished the innings with a hat-trick of sixes.

At the start of the 18th over, Dhoni was on 38 off 34 and the team’s total was 115/4. At the end of the 20th over, Dhoni was 75 not out from 46 deliveries and CSK had raced to 175/5. The captain hit 42 runs in the last 16 balls he faced.

It was vintage.

Bowlers deliver

With the ball, CSK knew that it was critical to strike early — as Dhoni said post-match, that was going to be the key to their success with spinners not likely to play a significant role on the night. The dew would make the ball softer as the innings progressed and it was important for the pacers to make full use of the upright seam early on.

Deepak Chahar stepped up at that time to remove Rahane and in-form Sanju Samson, within the first three overs. Shardul Thakur then got rid of the dangerous Jos Buttler in the next over, with the visitors having just 14 runs on the board.

Early wickets: check.

Rahul Tripathi [39 off 24] and Steve Smith [28 off 30] fought hard to add 61 runs for the fourth wicket, but just as they looked like taking the game away from CSK, Imran Tahir had his say in the contest. The veteran leg-spinner removed both batsmen and ended with phenomenal figures of 2/23 from his four overs, bowling with a wet ball.

Credit must go to the Royals as well for playing their part in a thriller as they didn’t give up till the end. Ben Stokes [46 off 26] and Archer [24 not out from 11] kept attacking and took the game to the last over. With six balls remaining, RR needed just 12 runs and had two set batsmen at the crease. It was imperative for every player on the field to remain calm at that time, and no one does that better than the men in yellow.

Bravo summoned all the experience he had gathered over the years playing in various T20 leagues around the world and bowled a stunning over. The right-arm medium-pacer removed Stokes off the first ball, Shreyas Gopal off the fifth, and gave away just three runs in total. The Super Kings had once again managed to hold their nerves and grab victory.

It was a triumph based on clear though and clinical execution, which Dhoni threw light on in the post-match presentation. “We wanted to get a partnership going [after the loss of early wickets]. It was needed at that time,” said the skipper, who was also the player of the match. “We knew there was some dew on the field and it would get easier [to bat] as the game progressed. We bat quite deep and could accelerate in the last few overs.”

Dhoni even explained how he thought of utilising his bowlers. “Initially, I thought we would look at how the fast bowlers would bowl so we could bring in the spinners later. Jadeja and [Mitchell] Santner found it hard to grip the ball. But Tahir bowled really well. It isn’t easy for a wrist spinner to bowl with a wet ball,” he said.

In their first home game, too, where Royal Challengers Bangalore bundled up for just 70 runs, CSK didn’t take things for granted with the bat and showed how to get the job on a difficult wicket. Although they were chasing a meagre total, they played cautiously because of the slowness of the track and only crossed the line in the 18th over. It was a performance that relied on purpose rather than bravado — which is an outlook that’s highly underrated in this dizzying format.