The Chennai Super Kings really played like ‘monarchs’ against the Sunrisers Hyderabad at their home ground on Saturday. Spearheaded by Brendon McCullum’s second IPL century, the Super Kings are indeed emerging to be the best side in the competition.
The New Zealander is in such a form that even the best bowling attack would have lost the plot on Saturday. Even CSK captain MS Dhoni played a very aggressive innings. He made a 53 off just 29 balls. This was his 15th half-century as the captain of the CSK. In short, his team batted the Hyderabad team out the match.
From what it appears, the approach of CSK is to be ruthless. The McCullum knock also highlighted the tough mentality of the team. Bowling wise, still there is a plenty of room for improvement, but the overall side is in perfect shape. The fact that CSK have been the most consistent side in the history of the IPL, it goes to show that this team is all set to be in the top four even this year.
This CSK team can lose odd one or two matches, but no IPL team can better Dhoni’s men. In their first match of this season against the Delhi Daredevils, the CSK batting didn’t fire the way it was expected, but still they were on the winning side. And in their second match against Hyderabad, it was a complete McCullum show. The New Zealand captain may have failed to make it count in the 2015 World Cup final match against Australia last month, but he showed how strongly he is equipped to bat up the order.
Then, there are a few more match-winners like Suresh Raina and Faf du Plessis and Dwayne Bravo who are waiting in the wings to come good. Opener Dwayne Smith is another dangerous batsman who can single-handedly destroy any attack. Surely, CSK will be a headache for all the teams from here!
