IPL 7: Can Dhoni and CSK weather the off-field storm?

Come the final round of the Indian Premier League, the Chennai Super Kings are almost always in the reckoning. Chennai have played five finals in the six editions so far and have emerged victorious twice - in 2010 and 2011. If there is one team with an IPL legacy, it is them. It’s just been that way ever since the first season of the IPL – Dhoni gives them the vision and the rest of the pieces just seem to fall in place. While some of the teams went looking for change of personnel or mindset – the Chennai Super Kings concentrated on retaining all their key players – MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Dwayne Bravo. They also used the Right-To-Match card to retain Faf Du Plesis. [caption id=“attachment_1480715” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Can Dhoni and CSK weather the off-field storm? BCCI[/caption] They also managed to bring the talents of Brendon McCullum, Samuel Badree, Dwayne Smith into the squad. It was a strong squad and it just seems to have got stronger. Strengths: Dhoni may lack imagination at times in Test cricket but he remains one of the finest skipper’s in the T20 format. He has pretty much moulded this side into one of the finest units doing the rounds in the Indian Premier League. At home in Chennai, they are pretty much unbeatable. Players like Jadeja, Ashwin and Raina are all very experienced in this format and in T20, this team is pretty much capable of running on auto-pilot. Stephen Fleming provides splendid backroom support to an already formidable outfit. Weaknesses: The departure of Michael Hussey will be felt and of course, the IPL spot-fixing and match-fixing trial is still on in the Supreme Court. Any verdict against alleged owner Gurunath Meiyappan, owner N Srinivasan or even the players could have a big impact on the tournament and the team. The trial resumes on April 16. Squad: Indian players: MS Dhoni (captain), Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohit Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Mithun Manhas, Vijay Shankar, B Aparajith, Ishwar Pandey, Ronit More, Pawan Negi, Brendon McCullum, Faf du Plessis, Dwayne Smith, John Hastings, Dwayne Bravo, Ben Hilfenhaus, Matt Henry, Samuel Badree