Chennai Super Kings - staring down the barrel

Barring some spectacular comeback, it looks like its all over for Chennai Super Kings in this year's IPL. Weird selection coupled with a non-functioning bowling line-up has doomed Chennai Super Kings. For the first two IPLs, they some how managed to qualify for the semi-finals, but this time it looks increasingly difficult. Joginder Sharma, who except for the last over in the world T20 Final, thanks to Mishbah ul haq, has done nothing worth mentioning, to keep figuring in the team time and again. Except for the odd good delivery here and there, he keeps delivering Four-balls. He is similar to Ajit Agarkar, who is known to bowl 2-3 poor deliveries every over. It is time this average cricketer, who is not fit for T20 cricket, especially in flat batting wickets, where his bowling lacks bite, variety and what not, is shown the door.

Another glorified player is Parthiv Patel, who as we all know is the single biggest reason for India not winning down under in 2003, where he put down quite a few easy catches and stumpings. He finds a place in this team regularly for no apparent reason. He is not capable of scoring quick runs and is not a good fielder either. Just because he scores an odd 30, 40 by wasting equal amount of balls, which is a bit too much for this form of cricket, he keeps his place in the team. It is better, if players like Abinav Mukund, who performed exceedingly well in the last domestic season gets a look in. Then there is Balaji, who it must be said, with a great deal of sadness is not quite the same bowler he was before his career threatening back injury. The foreign players except for a few, are either physically beyond their expiry date, or injury prone. Players like Flintoff, Jacob Oram, do not figure regularly in their national squad, even though they are very talented, for the simple reason that they break down every alternate day with injury.

As for the team selection, Murali Vijay is picked and is not played in his usual opening position, where he is known to time the ball very well and picks the gaps, but instead is played down the order. It is just the opposite the way Laxman was treated in his initial years, when he was asked to open the innings, which he was not comfortable with. Hemang Badani, does not get a look in.

Today especially, it was really funny to see Tyagi, who bowled well in the previous match, getting dropped. Balaji, who was carted around the field, gets a look in. Ashwin, who did bowl well, considering the situation, in which he was forced to operate, with Uttappa going besark, was inexplicably dropped. And in the end, the team did not jell together and fell flat on its backside.

It is high time the CSK bosses sit down and change the side drastically in the ensuing auctions by going for players who are fit and currently playing rather than picking some star players, who are injury prone or players, who dont have the wherewithal to perform at this less, lest, it loses the support of its supporters. It is high time they learn a lesson the way the Mumbai Indians had ringed in changes in their team. MI looked like a team in dire straits in the first IPL and now look where they are placed.