In Ashish Nehra, Chennai Super Kings find an unlikely hero

Chennai Super Kings had lost three games in a row, a rare slip in their seven-year IPL history. Defeat becomes more worrying when the usually nonchalant Captain Cool also voices the need for an urgent turnaround, In such a situation the team needs an inspiring performance. Against RCB, they got it from an unlikely hero: Ashish Nehra. The bowling has been a concern since Super Kings landed in India. The team changed the composition of the attack in every match with no one performing satisfactorily. Nehra would have been my last choice given his bad run in the last few years but Dhoni decided to give him another chance after his return from injury. Three wickets and all at crucial times speaks volume about his performance. He took the important wickets of AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli, who could have run away with the game.

The icing on the cake was that he bowled them both with yorkers. Nehra’s bowling not only restricted RCB to a lower total but also showed the rest how to bowl in Indian conditions. Nehra always had the skills but his inconsistent performances have been the problem. Super Kings will be hoping that the good Nehra will show up in the knockout stages of IPL too. The competition is getting tougher with every match and teams like KXIP and KKR look in ominous form. A blinder from Yusuf Pathan against Sunrisers Hyderabad meant CSK dropped down the table to third position and now every match is eliminator.

Any slip-ips will crash their dream of getting IPL trophy back. Super Kings’ bowlers should take a leaf out of Nehra’s book and should pull themselves up to provide a spirited performance in next three matches. While new rules and short boundaries has tilted the game in favour of batsmen, the use of technology means bowlers know all about opposition batsmen’s weaknesses. Wide yorkers or a leg spinner against Glenn Maxwell, bouncers to Yusuf Pathan, out swing to Robin Uthappa would be effective ways to counter them. So Super Kings’ bowlers need to practice accordingly in nets and execute their skills well on ground to outfox batsmen.

History suggest that Super Kings will not let their fans down as they always do well under pressure and win matches when they need to. In playoffs, it is not only battle of skills but also battle of nerves. Team which hold their nerves come out as winner in most of the big matches and Chennai Super Kings can count on their big match experience and “Captain Cool” MS Dhoni’s steel nerves to see them through.

Super Kings’ fans need not to be bogged down with their team slipping to third position at last moment because when they finished third in league table last time in 2010, they went on to win IPL. So keep calm and have faith in Dhoni’s men to do it for all of you.