CSK SWOT analysis for IPL 2024: ‘Yellow Army’ eye strong start under Gaikwad after abrupt end to Dhoni’s reign

MS Dhoni is set to continue his journey with the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) with the defending champions scheduled to begin their title defence against southern rivals Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the season opener that takes place in Chennai on Friday, 22 March.

IPL 2023 was widely believed to be Dhoni’s final season, given the amount of fanfare surrounding Dhoni and his ‘Yellow Army’ and the fact that CSK’s fans had outnumbered those of the rival teams even in away games more often than not. There were even special events that had taken place during the course of the season, including in CSK’s final game at Chepauk — the Qualifier 1 clash against Gujarat Titans in which Dhoni was seen distributing tennis balls and other mementos to the crowd at the end of the match, further fuelling speculations of him hanging up his boots after the final.

Read | Dhoni’s childhood friend says IPL 2024 unlikely to be his final season

‘Thala’, however, was then retained by the franchise ahead of the player auction that took place in December. Dhoni is as integral to CSK and its golden history in the IPL as Virat Kohli is to RCB, and barring a few matches in IPL 2022, has always been the leader of the side.

But a franchise isn’t about just one man, and one of the reasons why CSK has been such a successful and consistent side over the years where they’ve won the prestigious tournament a total of five times and finished runners-up as many times is the fact that they’ve maintained a strong core throughout their journey. And more often than not, have found the right replacements for players not performing up to the mark or for plugging a gap.

Read | Everything you need to know about Chennai Super Kings

Additionally, things are set to be very different this time around for both Dhoni and CSK, for only the second time since the inception of cricket’s biggest league, he will be playing purely as a wicketkeeper-batter and not as captain while donning the yellow jersey.

‘Captain Cool’ had made a similar decision just two days before the 2022 season, passing the baton to star all-rounder Jadeja only to take it back from him a month later after CSK lost six of their first eight matches, the playoffs well beyond their reach at that point.

Stats | Dhoni’s glorious reign as CSK captain explained in numbers

It’s hardly been any different this time around with Dhoni stepping down from the role on the eve of the season opener, the announcement once again taking the cricketing world by storm. And instead of handing the role to one of the seniors such as Jadeja, Ajinkya Rahane and others, the five-time champions have decided to go with Ruturaj Gaikwad as their new skipper.

Gaikwad has been a sensation for the Super Kings since he joined the franchise in 2019, and has exhibited leadership qualities both at state (Vijay Hazare Trophy) as well as international level (Hangzhou Asian Games). The Indian Premier League, however, is going to be a different cup of tea altogether for the Maharashtra wicketkeeper-batter and will be the biggest challenge of his career so far.

Before the 17th season gets underway, we take a detailed look at the Super Kings with a SWOT analysis:

Strengths

CSK’s greatest strength over the years, which has also been the hallmark of other champion sides such as Mumbai Indians, has been their ability to maintain a strong core group, and this season’s no different with the likes of Dhoni, Gaikwad, Jadeja, Deepak Chahar, Moeen Ali among others. Additionally, they’ve also managed to find like-for-like replacements for Ben Stokes and Ambati Rayudu, who retired from competitive cricket last season after help CSK win their fifth IPL title, by bringing on board Daryl Mitchell and the relatively unknown Sameer Rizvi.

Read | Who is Sameer Rizvi, the UP batter who earned Rs 8.4 crore from CSK?

Additionally, bringing Rachin Ravindra on board gives them an excellent top-order option who can even slot in as an opener, which will likely be the case with New Zealand teammate Devon Conway set to miss an extended period of the season due to a thumb injury. Given how Ravindra had fared in the ICC World Cup last year, where he was among the top run-scorers and could be described as one of the ‘finds of the tournament’ certainly makes him an exciting prospect.

Weaknesses

A number of teams are grappling with injuries and withdrawals that are affecting their plans for the 17th season and the defending champions are no different. Besides opener Conway, Chennai are likely to miss out on the services of Sri Lanka pacer Matheesha Pathirana, who had picked up an injury during the recent T20I series against Bangladesh, for their first few matches at least. Pathirana had an excellent run last year, collecting 19 wickets at an average of 19.53, and was a go-to option for Dhoni for the death overs.

In the ODI leg of Sri Lanka’s tour of Bangladesh, Tigers pacer Mustafizur Rahman had to be stretchered off after suffering a calf injury during the series decider, and although he has arrived in Chennai for now, that little episode will be a worry for the team management.

Opportunities

A major gain for the Chennai Super Kings ahead of IPL 2024 was the addition of seam-bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur, whose inclusion not only extends CSK’s batting order but also bolsters their pace department that also comprises Deepak Chahar, Matheesha Pathirana, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube among others. It remains to be seen if Dhoni ends up playing both Thakur and Dube, who was in sparkling form with the bat during the Afghanistan T20Is, or not.

Additionally, Dhoni might just end up batting a lot more freely this season and formally relinquishing captaincy. MSD was at the top of his game in the role of a finisher last season and nailed the role of playing the death-over blitzes from time to time, and will be expected to maintain his aggression heading into what a lot more now assume to be his final season.

Threat

Conway had formed a terrific opening partnership with Gaikwad at the top of the order, and the two had often set the tone for the CSK innings more often than not, with the likes of Jadeja and Dhoni later providing the finishing touch.

With Conway set to miss more than half of the season due to injury however, it could potentially be an opportunity for rival teams with potent pace attacks especially for Mumbai Indians whose pace attack comprises Jasprit Bumrah and Gerald Coetzee.

Player to watch out

Ruturaj Gaikwad — The attention of both fans as well as experts would’ve been fixed on Dhoni, not only to observe how he bats and keeps wickets this season but to also keep an eye on whether he drops any hints about his future from time to time.

Read | Why CSK chose Ruturaj Gaikwad as MS Dhoni’s successor?

However, with Dhoni stepping aside from captaincy and the franchise deciding to appoint Gaikwad in the role on a full-time basis, there is little doubt that the 27-year-old keeper-batter is going to face more scrutiny than ever in his life, and the pressure that is about to deal with is going to be like nothing he’s ever faced before.

It could very well turn out to be a make-or-break kind of season for the Maharashtra cricket and how he shapes up this year could end up having a major impact on his future, both in the IPL as well as in international cricket.

Season prediction

Despite the uncertainty surrounding Gaikwad’s first season as captain of the celebrated franchise, given the rapid decline during Jadeja’s brief reign two years ago, CSK remain among the frontrunners to make the playoffs at the very least.

They might be thin on a couple of areas, but can still hope of a top-four finish thanks to a strong core as well as some smart buys in the auction. Lest we forget, CSK still have the luxury of a think-tank comprising Dhoni and head coach Stephen Fleming, who certainly know a thing or two about making the best use of the resources at their disposal and guiding the team to another title.

Predicted playing XI

Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Rachin Ravindra, Sameer Rizvi, Daryl Mitchell, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (wk), Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Mustafizur Rahman.

Squad:

Retained players: Ajay Mandal, Ajinkya Rahane, Deepak Chahar, Devon Conway, Maheesh Theekshana, Matheesha Pathirana, Mitchell Santner, Moeen Ali, MS Dhoni, Mukesh Choudhary, Nishant Sindhu, Prashant Solanki, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shaik Rasheed, Shivam Dube, Simarjeet Singh, Tushar Deshpande.

Purchased at IPL 2024 Auction: Rachin Ravindra (Rs 1.80 crore), Shardul Thakur (Rs 4 crore), Daryl Mitchell (Rs 14 crore), Sameer Rizvi (Rs 8.40 crore), Mustafizur Rahman (Rs 2 crore), Aravelly Avanish (Rs 20 lakh).