“Despite the bad season for CSK…”: Irfan Pathan shortlists 5 positives for CSK in terrible IPL 2022 season

Irfan Pathan shortlists 5 positives for CSK as they could manage to win mere 4 matches in the Indian Premier League 2022.

During the 68th match of the ongoing 15th season of the Indian Premier League at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, the Rajasthan Royals (RR) prevailed against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by 5 wickets, in what was the final match of the league stage for both the teams.

The win has also meant that RR secure a top-2 finish, which means they would be entitled to two shots to make it through to the grand finale of IPL 2022 in Ahmedabad.

En route a rather modest target of 150 runs, RR got off to a brilliant start, as they posted 52/1 in the powerplay. But, with 75/2 on the scoreboard after 11 Overs, skipper Sanju Samson (15 off 20), Devdutt Padikkal (3 off 9), and later the set Yashasvi Jaiswal (59 off 44) lost their wickets at regular intervals, making it challenging for the new batters to get going from the start on a tiring track.

However, it were the batting heroics from Ravichandran Ashwin (40* off 23), who came in at number 5 in the batting order, and single-handedly took control of the RR ship steering wheel, to guide his team home with a couple of deliveries to spare.

Irfan Pathan shortlists 5 positives for CSK

The CSK, on the other hand, were off to an excellent start, courtesy of a fine start provided by Moeen Ali (93 off 57), taking them to 75/1 in the Powerplay. However, with wickets falling in bunch at the other end, the southpaw all-rounder had to slow down, and without any fireworks from the other batters either, all they could collect was mere 75 runs in the next 14 Overs, to end up with mere 150/6 in their 20 Overs.

The loss has meant that CSK are likely to end the season at the 9th spot in the points table (if not tenth), in what was a season to forget for the MS Dhoni-led side.

While there were quite a few shortcomings that led to their poor show in the season throughout, former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has still come up with five positives for the ‘Yellow Army’, which they might take forward in the next season.

While Pathan is impressed with CSK’s new ball bowling duo of Mukesh Chaudhary and Simarjeet Singh, the two Sri Lankan bowlers in mystery spinner Maheesh Theekshana, and medium pacer Matheesha Pathirana were the other promising talents with the franchise moving forward.

Apart from them, the Kiwi Southpaw batter Devon Conway’s contribution at the top of the order, was also a significant highlight for the franchise in the season.

Choudhary, Conway, and Theekshana the stand-out performers for CSK

While Mukesh (16 wickets) and Theekshana (12 wickets) were the second and third-highest wicket-takers for CSK this season, Simarjeet (4 wickets) impressed with the new ball as well during the latter half of the league stage.

Pathirana, on the other hand, got to play mere two matches in the season, but has earned the appreciation of his skipper MS Dhoni, as a valuable bowling option in the next season.

Conway, on the other hand, has acted as an able opening partner alongside Ruturaj Gaikwad. Averaging 42 across seven innings, the Kiwi batter even played a couple of match-winning knocks for his side this season.