Welcome Faf!

Faf has confirmed on his blog that he would be flying to India next week. :) Though he may not be ready for the matches. But I am sure he would be a key player in the later stages of the tournament this season. :( 

Tim Southee becomes the first casualty in Nokia Champions League

Chennai Super Kings suffered their first casualty when Tim Southee was ruled out of the tournament with a knee injury. The team has confirmed that no decision has been taken as yet on the replacement player.

But it is bound to be an interesting decision since Tim Southee was just a back-up for Bollinger in the team. Now let us pray that Bollinger does not get injured during the tournament. 

What are your choices regarding the replacement? You can check out the current CSK 15 member squad. My prediction it is probably going to be Faf du Plessis. 

Thushara Out! Kemp In!

Because of the sudden injury to Thilan Thushara, Chennai Super Kings are forced to replace him with Justin Kemp. 


Squad: MS Dhoni (capt &wk), S Badrinath, M Vijay, Suresh Raina, R Ashwin, Shadab Jakati, A Srikkanth, L Balaji, Muttiah Muralitharan, Michael Hussey, Doug Bollinger, Justin Kemp, Albie Morkel, Matthew Hayden, Joginder Sharma.

Will Suresh Raina lead Chennai Super Kings to victory?

First a confession: I am so used to writing headlines that 'Dhoni leads Chennai Super Kings to Victory' that writing 'Suresh Raina leads CSK to victory' looks out of place. I am sure most of the fans have not yet adjusted to the possibility of seeing a Chennai Super Kings team led by Raina. Hope it does not hit us hard tomorrow.

Dhoni's Injury: A Huge Loss

As VB eloquently put it "The blow to the elbow, that put him out of action for the next few matches, leaves us without the biggest asset a 3-in-1 champion in dynamic form." Though Dhoni is a 3-in-1 player, it is his captaincy that the team would miss the most. Patel + more opportunities to Morkel & Kemp is a pretty good replacement for Dhoni's wicket keeping + batting talent. But it is the captaincy of Dhoni, that the team would miss the most. (I was half-hoping Stephen Fleming to come out of retirement and captain the team. )

So it was a surprise choice to see VB pick Raina ahead of others - Kemp, Hayden & Badri. I think the international experience of Raina and his consistent appearance as a part of the squad led the selectors to pick him. Now it is time for Raina to repose the faith shown by VB. Just hoping that this inspired decision by VB does not turn out bad like MI picking Harbhajan to lead the team on Sachin's absence. 

Other Tidbits:

• Raina has very limited experience as a captain in the domestic circuit and has little experience of managing star players. 
• Dhoni has advised Raina to keep it simple. 

How will Raina measure up as a captain? 


P.S: To know my views on whether Dhoni's injury will end CSK Campaign, please read my post at the official website. 

Flintoff Returns Home

Cricinfo reports that Andrew Flintoff has returned home from the Indian Premier League to undergo surgery on a torn meniscus in his right knee. Really a sad news considering that we were all expecting a lot from Flintoff. And he has not done any justice to his talent until now. Hope he has a great IPL Season next year. 

News Snippets

1. Good News: Cricinfo reports that Jacob Oram is fit. This is great news since it confirms his availability for the first four matches of Chennai Super Kings, in their quest for IPL crown.
2. Bad News: Gerald Majola, the chief executive of Cricket South Africa (CSA), confirmed to Cricinfo that the South Africans would be available for IPL, only after the first week of the tournament. So Chennai Super Kings would miss the services of Ntini and Albie Morkel for the first four matches.
3. Chennai Super Kings Ads: While we are all waiting for the promotional videos from Chennai Super Kings to hit the Televisions, Chennai Super Kings has silently started their Internet advertising. You can see the Google Search Advertisements for Chennai Super Kings official website in the following image. These Google Ads titled "Dhoni's Brigade" with the description "Clash of the Titans. Join the Fan Club" appeared for a short time on Google.

Manpreet Gony to replace Sudeep Tyagi

Chennai Super Kings today signed up 24-year old Punjab all-rounder Manpreet Gony as a replacement for injured Sudeep Tyagi. Gony was selected on the basis of the recommendation by Bhupinder Singh and his good performance in Deodhar and Ranji Trophy Matches.

Six feet, four inch tall Gony, bowls with reasonable pace and can hit the ball hard. But his relative inexperience(5 First Class and 8 List A Games) would be a huge minus point since Chennai Super Kings are already one or two pace bowlers short.

News Source: Chennai Super Kings Official Website