CLT20: Generous bowling attack hurting MS Dhoni-led CSK

 New Delhi: The most successful team in the cash-rich Indian Premier League, Chennai Super Kings, has been struggling with their bowling, as their bowlers are finding it difficult to stop the run-flow at crucial junctures.

In their opening match of the Champions League Twenty20, CSK bowlers once again showed their generosity while playing against the reigning IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders, which cost them dearly in the end.

After being invited to bat first, CSK managed to put up a challenging total of 159 runs on board. However, CSK bowlers started off well, when they came to defend the total, as they ran through KKR's top order. But even after dictating terms in the first ten overs, when the score was reading 51 for five, Chennai franchise lost the plot.

Too many loose deliveries by CSK speedsters, spinners helped Ryan ten Doeschate and Andre Russell to regain the lost momentum in the match, which eventually took the match away from CSK.

Apart from Ashish Nehra, who took four wickets in his four-over quota, no other bowler managed to stop the run-flow in the last nine overs of the match, as they leaked 99 runs and lost the match by 3 wickets with 6 balls to spare.

This is not the first time that CSK bowlers looked vulnerable, especially in the last ten overs.

During the seventh edition of the IPL, they conceded too many runs, which once fumed skipper Dhoni too much. He criticised his bowlers in a sarcastic manner by stating: ''I had the belief in my bowling that they will let them (KXIP) score more than 200 runs.” – when CSK were knocked out of the IPL-7 after losing the Qualifier 2 to Kings XI Punjab.

However, if CSK want to win the on-going Champions League title, for the second time, their bowlers need to iron out their flaws and have to be a bit economical.