Thursday, 10 May 2012

Do or Die Battles for Chennai Begins

After three-fourth of the season, Chennai finds itself in the familiar position of 'Do or Die' matches. They seriously have to win tomorrow's match to be in the running for semi-final slots. But unlike earlier seasons, the team has not found the right mix yet. Still this under-firing team should be able to defeat Rajasthan Royals easily - despite the expected absence of Faf due to 'Flu'. 

It is time 'Fleming' got bold and dropped a foreign batsman or an all-rounder and brought in an extra bowler. With 10 batsmen, none of the players are able to understand their roles - leading to a misfiring team. Only in Avengers Movies, an assembled team of all-heroes will be able to conquer their egos and save the world win the match.  

CSK XI (Probable): 
1. Hussey 2. Vijay 3. Raina 4. Bravo 5. Dhoni 6. Badri 7. Albie 8. Jadeja 9. Ashwin 10. Jakati 11. Hilfenaus

I would have dropped Hussey and picked Bollinger or Kulasekara in the team. I also expect Hilfenaus to keep his place in the wake of his recent international form. (Even though he lost Mumbai Match)

Rajasthan Royals Probable XI
1. Rahul Dravid 2. Rahane 3. Watson 4. Menaria 5. Shah 6. AA Chavan 7. Botha 8. Binny 9. Yagnik 10. Tait 11. Trivedi

Most Dangerous Players
1. Dravid: Rahul Dravid may not be the most charistmatic captain around. But he is a good captain nonetheless. And he has been the best batsman in this team - until the arrival of Watson. 
2. Watson: Watson belongs to the rare breed of 'true' all-rounders (and not like our own Jadeja :)). RR is lucky to have him around. 

Favorites: My heart still says that it would be CSK who will win the match today. What is your thought?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks Robin for ur input. I believe that your regular input is very lucky for CSK and CSK would win every match from now on. They are very good side. Jakati should be dropped and Sudeep Tyagi can be included.

anush said...

Happy to see that you have started blogging again.

I too agree with your observation that we need a bowler. As usual, Dhoni et al. don't seem to have time to sit and think about team composition and the role of players. My main crib is that we have too many fake all-rounders. Seriously, do we need 3 bits and pieces players? Albie, Bravo and Jadeja? Albie usually goes for more than 8 an over. I don't understand why he is a regular in the team, especially given the fact that he is taking up one of the overseas player's slot. Similar argument could be made for Bravo. Kulasekara would be a better option than these two. He did well in the limited opportunities he got.

#7 could be either Bravo/Albie. Instead of Bravo at #4, we should slot in Badri to let him anchor instead of wasting him at #6,7,8 spots. Or, drop him and bring in someone that can whack the ball at the tail end of the innings.

Robin said...

@Anonymous,
We won.. :)
@Anush,
Albie - proved why he is there in the team. He is a batsman who can bowl. I believe the team management has not handled Jadeja and Bravo's roles properly. Hope they get their act together.