Chennai Super Kings are the only team to make it to the semi-final stage
- or the equivalent - of every IPL tournament so far. Twice, including
in the previous season, they've finished runners-up. In 2010 and 2011, they won.Like most IPL teams, they've had their share of controversy, not the
least of it being claims of conflict of interest - BCCI president N
Srinivasan also manages India Cements, the franchise's owners. However,
the on-field success has so far managed to keep the spotlight on the
positives. This time, though, Super Kings face what is possibly their
biggest off-field issue yet: that of the exclusion of Sri Lankan players
from the games in Chennai, following political tensions. The other
franchises, whose Sri Lankans play more central roles in the team, have
voiced fears that this gives Super Kings an unfair advantage
in their home games, while some have criticised the IPL's softness in
not moving the matches away from Chennai altogether. This means Super
Kings will need a near-perfect showing to drag the headlines in the
right direction, but even another triumph might leave a bad aftertaste.
With Super Kings turning all that attention to their seam-bowling, it's clear that they believe R Ashwin
has the spin front well covered, with Ravindra Jadeja backing him up.
Ashwin has the numbers, in the IPL and otherwise, to back up that
notion. Currently India's primary spinner, he has 49 IPL wickets for
Super Kings - second only to Albie Morkel, who has played 21 more games.
More importantly, at the end of the 2012 season, Ashwin boasted of an
economy rate of just over six, the best among all Super Kings bowlers.If Super Kings look to Ashwin with the ball, they look first and foremost to MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina
with the bat. In the absence of the injured Faf du Plessis, the
now-retired and ever-dependable Michael Hussey will partner M Vijay (who
comes in high on confidence after feasting on Australia's bowlers) at
the top, leaving Raina and Dhoni in charge of finishing duties. That was
an area Super Kings struggled in during the round-robin stage in 2012,
often lacking the late surge. It is an area Raina and Dhoni are more
than capable of improving upon.
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