The IPL Sunday Roast #9

By Rahul Patil

How long is 5 minutes? With Chennai Super Kings (CSK) needing 11 of 3 balls to win my Kapiti line train entered the twin tunnels between Takapu Road and Ngauranga. As I had headphones over my ears I might have muttered a couple of expletives a bit too loudly because when I looked up from my phone screen most of the passengers in my carriage were giving me that look. I tried to look away but the “ride like your aunty is watching” posters were staring at me from all corners. The things you have to go through when you are a cricket fan. Eye roll.

In the next 5 minutes while I desperately tried to search for a single bar of network, Sir Ravindra Jadeja (the title is an unofficial one for his skills with bat, ball and in the field) found enough time to display swordsmanship of the highest caliber to take CSK to their fifth IPL title. After winning the first ever IPL in 2008 Shane Warne the winning captain of the Rajasthan Royals referred to Jadeja as “The Rockstar”. 16 years later Warney’s rockstar is still belting out chartbusters.

M S Dhoni & Stephen Fleming are shrewd businessmen. Devon Conway their best return on investment ever. NZD 200K delivering 672 runs at an average of almost 52 and a strike rate of almost 140. 171 in 15 overs wouldn’t have been possible without the start that Conway provided. The innings of 47 of 25 setting the tone for the run chase and good enough to win him the player of the finals award. Sai Sudarshan’s 96 of 47 ball turned out to be in a losing cause. Yet another Indian youngster flexing his muscles as if to say “Don’t forget about me. I’m here too.”

Ambati Rayudu announced his retirement just before the final. A childhood prodigy who never really fulfilled his potential on the international stage. Luck wasn’t his ally either but with this win he is only one of two players to have been part of six IPL winning sides. The moral of the story…. sometimes 2D is better than 3D.

Continuing our countdown from last week let’s have a look at the remaining four teams from this year’s tournament;

4) Lucknow Super Giants

Twice in two years they have reached the playoffs and on both occasions they have finished 4^th. Halfway through this year’s tournament the injury to their regular captain K L Rahul was a big blow. Krunal Pandya stepped in and did a commendable job. Their overseas players like Kyle Mayers, Nicholas Pooran & Marcus Stoinis kept them in the hunt but their Indian players like Deepak Hooda and others disappointed big time. Watching them one gets the feeling that they will continue to be play-off contenders but to take the next step and challenge the other teams for the title will require them to come out of their shell and play some fearless cricket.

They might want to look at the pitches they have been dishing out this season at their home venue. Slow, low and lifeless. Surely their own batters would prefer to bat on better pitches. The whole Mayers, Naveen ul Haq, Kohli and Gambhir incident also left a bad taste in the mouth. Naveen ul Haq in particular carried on keeping the issue alive on social media. Mangoes have a limited shelf life. If you keep holding onto them for too long they go from ripe to rotten in no time.

3) Mumbai Indians (MI)

A brilliant comeback after being no 10 on the ladder last year. The batting really started clicking midway through the tournament but it was the bowling that let them down. Their dream was to play both Bumrah & Archer together; a mouthwatering prospect. Unfortunately, they haven’t played a game together due to injuries and the replacements were just not up to the mark. The fact that they still managed to finish third is because they are a champion side and know how to turn things around when they are not going to plan.

Come 2024 though Mumbai will surely be title contenders. The batting is looking ominous with Ishan Kishan, Cameron Green, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Verma, Nehal Wadhera and Tim David all coming good. The veteran Piyush Chawla looks like he has reinvented himself and in Akash Madhwal they have found a talented seamer. They just need their captain to score runs now and keep their fingers crossed about Jofra & Bumrah.

2) Gujarat Titans (GT)

Climbing Everest in your first attempt is very tough. What’s tougher is trying to do it all over again the following year. GT are a phenomenal team. They were top of the table last year and won the title in their first attempt. This year again they were the best team during the league stage and topped the table once again. Luck wasn’t on their side in the final but they can still be very proud of the way they have performed two years in a row.

2023 has so far been the year of Shubman Gill. Apart from scoring international hundreds in all three formats he amassed 890 runs in 17 IPL at an average of almost 60 and a strike rate of 158 winning the orange cap (most number of runs) award with ease. He is in a zone whereby everything he touches turns to gold. GT also had the tournament’s top three highest wicket takers in their ranks. Mohammed Shami with 28 wickets won the purple cap (most wickets) award and was closely followed by veteran Mohit Sharma and arguably the best T20 cricketer in the world – Rashid Khan. Both picked up 27 wickets each.

Hardik Pandya who is trying to model himself on the M S Dhoni school of captaincy is improving with every game and their management team seems to have developed an environment which gets the best out of their players. If they keep doing what they have been doing for the last two years, there will be many more titles to celebrate in the future for sure.

• Chennai Super Kings

Stephen Fleming & M S Dhoni have done it again. 10 finals and 5 trophies in 14 years is the stuff champions are made of. For a couple of years when CSK were banned from the IPL the duo managed to take the Pune team to the finals as well. Like Mumbai they too finished 9^th on the table last year but rose like a Phoenix from the ashes to come back in the best way possible.

The CSK philosophy is pretty simple. Buy the players they believe in and then back them strongly. Look at players like Ajinkya Rahane & Shivam Dube who were discarded by other teams and are now blooming in the sunshine of Chennai. After an attempt to pass on the baton of captaincy last year M S Dhoni is well and truly back. He is arguably still the best captain going around in professional cricket and until he is around trophies will keep coming CSK’s way.

This is the 2nd IPL that I have covered from start to finish and it’s truly been an amazing tournament. So many fond memories come to mind. The home and away games were back and so were the massive crowds. Indian youngsters, specially the batters once again impressed. Players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Verma and Sai Sudarshan proved that the future of Indian batting is in safe hands. Rinku’s heroics in this edition warms the heart. The number of last ball finishes kept the heart racing and the high quality of cricket once again confirmed why this is considered as the best T20 franchise tournament in the world.

A final word on by far the biggest story of IPL 2023 for sure. The M S Dhoni craze wherever CSK played is just unbelievable. In a country of 1.4 billion where idol worship has been going on for centuries God has taken a new avatar. The out pouring of love for one man gives goosebumps when you watch it on TV. He must mean so many things to so many people and yet I think it’s his simplicity and calmness under pressure that people love the most. They see a part of themselves in him and love the fact that he makes the most of any hand dealt to him. An emotional Dhoni after the final confirmed that he plans to be around for one more season. For their devotion the followers of Dhonism have been blessed with the promise of his appearance once again in 2024.

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