Team Profile: Chennai SuperKings
Mar 21st, 2008 | By Raveesh | Category: Teams, Top Stories
Chennai has always been a place of ‘Super’latives! You might have heard about the temple being built for film actress or milk abhishekam for a super star! Well in cricket, it is evident from the fact that Chennai IPL team is being named as Chennai SuperKings much on the similar lines of ICL team of Chennai - Chennai SuperStars! But that is not without reason as Chennai SuperStars won the inaugural ICL T20 championship.
Though Chennai does not have an icon player and they had a prize catch when they successfully bid for Dhoni. In all probability, M S Dhoni is likely to lead the team in the upcoming T20 championship and why not? He is the reigning Twenty20 world skipper! Chennai team has its own strengths in batting with senior pros - Mathew Hayden, Stephen Fleming, Michael Hussey along with young guns - MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina. Mathew Hayden and Stephen Fleming have been seasoned openers for their respective national teams and this pair should give that edge over other teams when putting up huge total or chasing one. But Fleming has rather unimpressive record in Twenty20 internationals scoring only 110 in 5 matches he played at an average of 22. Hayden has it lot better with 308 runs of 9 matches at average over 51! Michael Hussey too follows Fleming in this regard. But in Indian conditions you never know who outscores whom! Choice for another opening slot with Hayden firmly holding one end would be between Fleming and Hussey.
Middle order too is pretty good with T20 specialist MS Dhoni and hard hitting Suresh Raina, only that he has been out of international cricket for more than a year now. But the real strength of the team lies with 2 all-rounders Jacob Oram and Albie Morkel who can contribute with both bat and ball. Jacob Oram’s heroics in international cricket is well known and Albie Morkel is being depicted as the next Lance Klusener. Wicket keeper’s slot is fixed for Dhoni and it is unlikely that Parthiv Patel will be picked up do the glove work exclusively.
Bowling options Chennai have is plenty with world renowned spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan leading the attack along with the all rounders mentioned earlier. Makhaya Ntini has been winning laurels for his country whether in tests or ODIs with his bowling. He should be one of bowling but only if the team could accommodate him without crossing the limit for overseas players. One of the best options Chennai have in bowling is L Balaji. He can come good with bat too with those big hits. Remember when he scored those sixes off Shoaib Akthar when India toured Pakistan in 2004. But he has been out of action quiet some time now with injuries. Not to forget Joginder Sharma, the man who bowled that tense last over against Pakistan in Twenty20 world cup final. He can be good option too.
Also Chennai has a pool of young domestic players like Anirudha Srikkanth, Subramaniam Badrinath, Napolean Einstein who can show up their skills as quality batsmen for the team. Then, we have Shadab Jakati, Abhinav Mukund, Viraj Kadbe as all rounders and Ashwin R and Sudeep Tyagi to prove the mettle as IPL bowlers. Having said all that, it is the performance of a team as a whole will win more matches than individual glories!
Full Team
MS Dhoni (Captain)
Matthew Hayden
Stephen Fleming
Suresh Raina
Michael Hussey
Anirudha Srikkanth
Subramaniam Badrinath
Napoleon Einstein
Parthiv Patel
Jacob Oram
Albie Morkel
Shadab Jakati
Abhinav Mukund
Viraj Kadbe
Muttiah Muralitharan
Joginder Sharma
Makhaya Ntini
Ashwin R
Sudeep Tyagi
Lakshmipathy Balaji
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great work..
its good to see the latest news and articles in detail on the web..
thanks ….
You’re welcome dude!
lol theres a player called Napoleon Einstein?
I think you have not taken into fact that only 4 international players can be part of the starting eleven… That means.. among Hayden, Fleming & Hussey.. Only 1 can play.. since murali, morkel & Oram are natural choices.. [Assuming that all the international players are available]
This 4-player limit is really going to kill a lot of teams!
@Pazz,
He is a player from Tamil Nadu.
ya, even I thought him as a overseas player when first heard the name Napoleon Einstein.
@Robin
I did mention implicitly about the limitation of having only 4 international players per match when I said “He should be one of bowling but only if the team could accommodate him without crossing the limit for overseas players”. And all other analysis is about how these 4 options can be choose. This will be a crucical factor for teams.
wishu all thebest in all teams