CHENNAI SUPER KINGS

Chennai Super Kings is different this year. The Indian Dominant Batting order has now become Bowling lineup. They have an awesome batting lineup with capable all round players. Spin department with Ashwin, Jadeja, Badree and Raina is good enough against any team. The trouble factor of Chennai Super Kings is the inexperience Indian pacers and spot of one Indian batsman.

Chennai Super Kings has decent Indian fast bowlers. If they perform well Dhoni can go with the batting powerhouse into the match:

McCullum, Smith, Raina, Dhoni, Bravo, Du Plessis, Jadeja, Ashwin, Pandey, Mohit Sharma, Nehra.

That is purely Indian bowling lineup with the dependable support from Raina and Bravo. Chennai Super Kings should go for a foreign fast bowler like Hilfenhaus. They can choose two players from McCullum, Smith and du Plessis. If they get spin tracks, they can go for Samuel Badree too.

Then Chennai Super Kings would be:

McCullum, Smith, Raina, Dhoni, Bravo, Manhas, Jadeja, Ashwin, Hilfenhaus, Pandey, M Sharma.

Chennai Super Kings has been the most consistent team in the IPL. They have qualified up to semi-finals every season. Many match winners makes the team one of the strongest batting line ups of the tournament. Chennai Super Kings is going to miss a genuine pacer like Bollinger. The death over bowling could be a concern this time. If Indian bowlers perform well then this Chennai Express would be unstoppable.

Number of Players: 20 (Indian 12, overseas 8)

Cost: INR 59.80 crore

Team Structure:

Batsmen:

• Suresh Raina (Retained).
• Faf du Plessis (INR 4.75 crore).
• Mithun Manhas (INR 30 lakh).

 All-rounder:

• Dwayne Bravo (Retained).
• Ravindra Jadeja (Retained).
• Dwayne Smith (INR 4.5 crore).
• John Hastings (INR 50 lakh).
• Vijay Shankar (INR 10 lakh).
• B Aparajith (INR 10 lakh).

 Wicketkeeper-batsmen:

• MS Dhoni (Retained).
• Brendon McCullum (INR 3.25 crore).

 Spinners:

• R Ashwin (Retained).
• Samuel Badree (INR 30 lakh).
• Pawan Negi (INR 10 lakh).

 Fast bowlers:

• Mohit Sharma (INR 2 crore).
• Ashish Nehra (INR 2 crore).
• Ishwar Pandey (INR 1.5 crore).
• Ben Hilfenhaus (INR 1 crore).
• Matt Henry (INR 30 lakh).
• Ronit More (INR 10 lakh).

Strengths:

• Five core retained players.
• Excellent purchase of foreign players.
• Flexibility in all the departments.

 Weaknesses:

• Lack of world class fast bowler (only Ben Hilfenhaus).

Chennai Super Kings Probable playing XI: B McCullum, DR Smith, S Raina, MS Dhoni, F Du Plessis, R Jadeja, M Manhas,  R Ashwin, I Pandey, M Sharma, B Hilfenhaus.