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Chennai Super Kings or Chennai "Sothapal" Kings

The last two matches for CSK in the IPL was a nightmare to say the least. They were displaying very poor cricket quality and you can't expect positive results for that. The situation now is that they have to win their match against Deccan Chargers to seal their place in the semi-finals.

The match against Bangalore RC was a easy one, at least, thats what I thought when they were restricted to 130 or so. CSK was cruising along at 85 for 1 after 14 overs and the victory was very much in sight. I cant believe that finally Chennai lost by good 15 runs. The bowling was not that very great and CSK made heavy weather of that. The most irritating point I noted was as follows:
1. When the going was good, I cant understand why Dhoni got himself promoted up the order and threw his wicket carelessly. There was no need for him to go up the order and if at all he comes at no.3 or 4, then you expect him to guide the team to victory.
2. When there were 18 balls left and 36 runs to score with 4 wickets in hand and Suresh Raina on the other end, you would expect batsmen like Manpreet Goni and Lakshmipathy Balaji to take a single and give the strike to Raina. But neither of them did that and they went about making huge heaves without any success!! Very poor cricketing sense.

The match against Rajasthan Royals was a different story altogether. The CSK bowling, always weak, was pathetic on that day. No bowler could bowl a single decent over and you hardly made the ball beat the bat. It is very annoying. More so, to see it happen live at the ground after paying Rs1200/- for 2 tickets! Since I was at the stadium I could see how Dhoni reacts to the various situations and I have to say that Dhoni hardly reacted. You may not get to see it on the small screen the Captain's reaction for every stroke, but while at the ground, you can continually watch what Dhoni does or does not do. On that day, Dhoni looked completely out of sorts and his mind wasn't there, I guess. You can understand it from the body language where he hardly bothered to talk to the bowlers even after being butchered by Royals batsmen. Definitely, it is not cool captaincy but absolute lack of responsibility. There was not innovation either from Dhoni until the 15 over or so when Suresh Raina was asked to bowl couple of overs. Dhoni could have used Suresh Raina, Badrinath (who can bowl medium pacers) effectively when your regular bowlers go for runs. I dont know why he persisted with Ntini and Balaji when they were smashed around the park.

On the other hand, when Royals bowled you can see Shane Warne being involved completely. Let it be field settings, bowling change or reading the mind of the batsmen, Warne is definitely a class apart. Aptly, Time of India wrote the next day that Dhoni has been out-thought by Warne. Dhoni's cup of woes doesn't end with this captaincy but also continued with his batting. He promoted himself up the order above Badrinath and wasted precious balls. Finally, he gave away the wicket cheaply to a soft dismissal.

Chennai Super Kings are in must win situation which they could have very avoided. They are not Super Kings but Sothapal kings.

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