The Dhawan way.

Out comes the helmet followed by a Dabangg-like twirl of the moustache. Up goes the bat towards a roaring PCA Stadium in Mohali. A Shrewd smile of satisfaction and a broadened shoulders' salute.

*Just 85 balls.

**Its a Test match.

***Its a debut Test match.

Meet the newest pinnacle of Indian Cricket, err Gabbar Singh err Chulbul Pandey err Shikhar Dhawan or fondly & more aptly, DA.ONE.

Gundappa Vishwanath & Lala Amarnath must not have been the happiest of men on 16th March 2013. Scoring 187 off 174 meant Vishwanath's long sustained record of the highest score by an Indian on debut (137 against Oz in Kanpur, 1969) & the record of most runs on debut by Amarnath (156 in two innings combined against Eng in Mumbai, 1933) were as good as broken. Power of the moustache, aye.

Flashback 2004.

He didn't have this big a moustache back then. In fact he didn't have one at all. Ear rings were missing. Hairs weren't.  He was a bit more fairer and cuter if you ask fan girls. The man wore the blue jersey for the first time ever on February 16, 2004. The boy from the Capital was asked to open for the Indian U19 team under the captaincy of  a start stop Ambati Rayudu who had a bad company in between only to return to the fold later. 

He was just an ambitious kid and probably he wouldn't have known that he would become the leading run scorer of the tournament guiding India to the semifinals and that he would repeat the feat again -this time in a perfect manner- to clinch the title for the senior team after nearly a decade. Nevertheless, that was some innings to start your national career. 

An unbeaten 155 with three fifty plus partnerships with the likes of Robin Uthappa, Ambati Rayudu and Suresh Raina. His bat led team India to the semifinals with three centuries and a fifty only to lose against the eventual champions and neighbours and foes Pakistan. However the best thing about the tournament was when he showed he-apart from the free strokeplay- has the capability of holding the innings thus bailing out the sinking ship against Sri lankans. 

It was the same year when he was given Border Gavaskar scholarship with Suresh Raina and Venugopal Rao where they were drilled by Allan Border and Bennett King at the Australian cricket academy .

Fresh from the success of the 2004 U-19 WC, here he is, giving some intense insights of his game. "I don't believe in the concept of bowlers being difficult. I feel one needs to play the ball & not the bowler, as a great ball from an average bowler can get the better of you." Boy knows to speak.


Dhawan had his own heroes. 
"Andy Flower for grit, Brian Lara for flair and Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist for sheer aggression."



Thus the rookie from Delhi followed up his first full domestic season with him being included in squads facing touring sides and performing well. With all his supporting performances, he became a near permanent member of India A side at the end of 2005. Not to forget the not so successful not so bad Ranji to follow. Averaging 41.14 with the bat, he showed glimpses of List A form even.

The India A opener had a successful EurAsia series (April-May 2006) scoring (127, 52,1,91,17 ). But he didn't fare well in the next India A tournament - Top End series as he was asked to bat away from his favoured opening slot, at various other positions ranging from one down to finisher to accommodate Gambhir, Uthappa as openers. Though he started off well with a half century in the first game, he couldn't repeat his form as the tournament went on. There was also one four day game when he was asked to open with Pujara only to get dropped for the rest of games. Thanks to his 4 & 15. To his bad luck, his patchy form continued throughout the season scoring just one century and three fifties playing 9 innings each in First class as well as List A. With this relatively terrible 2006-7 Indian domestic season he lost his place in the India A team that participated in a tournament in Zimbabwe  Tri Nation series, Sri Lanka and the home series against touring South African A team. [Fun fact: Praveen kumar  opened batting in some of those games]

The world famous and recently much abused English summer once helped him. Or put it this way. He bailed out The Etherley cricket club which apparently approached him on his holiday in Middlesbrough during the big gap in the Indian domestic season. The free stroked batsman gave everything to the club that they still remember him.

"We've had some tremendous professionals down the years but he's the best ever,"  observes Hylton Balmer, former player who also adds 

"Shikhar has been a real shot-in-the-arm, a lovely man and an absolute fitness fanatic."



"always smiling, always talking" refers Dhawan's spin bowling team-mate from the same club as he smashed the 157 year old club record with an unbeaten 215 in 45 overs and later adding 119 out of 291 partnership in the following game that made Roy Coates, the club Secretary is spell bound and says,  

"He must have put a dozen into Dawson Street, I was getting worried about the cars." 

You can read more about his might and Etherley club drooling over him. 

He was not a schoolboy anymore. He had mastered the puddle. Now he had a big sea to survive. He had to be brackish to withstand and carry on with the extremely distinct scenario. 
He started afresh accepting challenges. That was very much visible as he was a key member in the side's Ranji trophy win after 16 years in 2007-08 from which his average shooted up as years rolled on. 


2008-09-54.70

2009-10-64.71

2007-08-43.47

But getting in the hard & often cruel system of Indian cricket & more importantly, belonging there gave Dhawan a tough time. He started fairly early yet he started late. His ODI debut was 6 long years after his U-19 stints & he got bowled by Clint McKay in the second ball of the innings only to be consoled by Skipper Dhoni & Raina later. Lets slip into his shoes maybe. Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma from the same U-19 team as his starting to find their feet in the One Day side. All younger. "From Delhi alone there were players like Gautam Gambhir & Virender Sehwag all ahead of him yet he wasn't getting a chance. The frustration kept building in & showing in his game." Says his coach Madan Sharma, unable to find his flaws once vanishing out of contention after touring West Indies under Raina after 8 months post his debut. The selection of Virat Kohli, 4 years younger to Dhawan, as he now says with a hint of a giggle, took him to the thoughts of giving up the game. "He was feeling aloof." "There is nothing wrong in his game actually, its all in his mind." Sinha had observed. Shikhar himself recalled, "Am I good enough to play at the international level? I knew I had the talent & of course I was working as hard as someone else but something was missing."

Those, guys, were the real tough times for India's newest batting sensation who back then, had set his sights to make it big. Real big.

"He seemed to be in anguish while playing in the domestic circuit in bid to stage a comeback. Dhawan's despondency during the Ranji matches over the last few seasons indicated his turmoil within. He was working hard but runs were hard to come by. So what was missing? It was difficult for either his coach or his mentor or himself to determine."

Changes happen & in professional cricket, a shot is often enough to change the perspection of one's game, the way to look at it, the way to approach it, the way to correct a mistake & the way ahead.

For instance, Dhawan's was the one played in a Ranji Trophy match in 2010 in the Roshanara ground in delhi on a chilly December morning against the Railways. Although its cruel to single out his failure as the main reason for Delhi not being able to chase down a tiny-winy total of 136, a reckless shot did triger a middle order collapse.

"A new Dhawan was born that day."

With an aggreagrate of 486 in 11 Ranji innings until then, Dhawan was bound to receive a lot of flak for the awful shot & he did. In the 2011-12 season he made a little impact  in Ranji innings totalling 296 runs in 10 innings but his knocks of 177 & 155 against Rajasthan in Jaipur in the Irani Cup match kept him in the limelight.

"One would have thought he was not cut out for the big league after such a poor tour," says Madan Sharma after the sloppy Windies tour under Suresh Raina, "But Shikhar came back hungrier, convinced that he knew what he had to do next. That was the turning point. He kept telling everybody that he wanted to play longer for India. He realized the IPL was a platform but the real clincher would be tall scores in domestic cricket."

Those, guys, were the real tough times for India's newest batting sensation who back then, had set his sights to make it big. Real big.

He should have known nothing but scoring loads and loads of runs will help his case of living his dreams. He had no choice but to work harder. After the early stardom he was down to earth feeling the pain of getting neglected. He had to move on. Apart from the man himself none would know the feelings of fellow U 19 team mates marching ahead with him lurking behind scratching his head in frustration.

"He started coming to nets on time, fussed over his batting, started asking questions he had done never before. He would ask about wrist positions & front foot play. He decided to work on his pet shots, like the cut & the drive. And he was very smart. With the advice he got, he knew what to reject & what to incorporate. He consciously cut out the tendency to waft at deliveries when set. At 27, these are his best years as a batsman & he knows he must make them count."

Anybody else would have given up. Shikhar didn't  He had the legendary openers representing the national team. He didn't  He even lost his place in India A team to various other aspirants like Pujara,Uthappa, Gambhir, Rahane, Parthiv Patel and even Praveen kumar. He didn't  He marched & marched &marched like a blinker tied driving horse. Didn't look anywhere but his path. Well. That's what you call determination. 

So, who is this new Dhawan? The guy who is striking gold whenever he comes out with his bat?

He is "pure entertainment" as Navjot Singh Sidhu might have liked to point out.

You ask his senior Delhi teammate Akash Chopra & he will explain, "He has learnt to put a price on his wicket. Not that he has become a good batsman overnight. He has always been a talented batsman. Only problem was he never put a price on his wicket. He used to get out playing rash shots."

He is not a man of many words. He will give the press the same reassuring smile he gives an opposition bowler on field. Maybe that is why his bat is so talkative, after all. It has to do the talking for two people at a time. But, well, who's complaining?

  15 years back, a twelve year old Dhawan showed up at his now-mentor-then-coach Tarak Sinha's Sonnet Cricket Club in Delhi following the footsteps of his cousin. "He soon rose through the age-groups making a name for himself as a bold left-hander. He was essentially a strokemaker & always played that way." Sinha maintains. So the flamboyance is nothing new.

There is something about his batting. You cant stop with the Viru comparisons & hell, he is Sehwagesque. But there is more. Not a dull moment on crease. Between those resounding flicks & now-slowly-gaining-attention-of-the-cricket-world-and-beyond drives through the covers. My, dont they leave you spellbound? Powerfully silky to sum it up. Then there is a swift paddle behind fine leg & an easy-peasy squeeze to point & you can go on & on & on. Guy has a fat book of shots & I'm afraid it covers almost all in the buisness. And the positivity in his game, the way he goes about the task like an eagle to the sky, he leaves you wondering if any doubt, any concern nag him on the striker's end. He plays each ball with such clarity & ultimum intent & topped with some brutal yet crisp finesse that even when there maybe periods of measured scoring, he doesnt look laboured. Keeping up with it, always. And he does have the legs to accompany the rabbitish trio of Virat, Raina & Dhoni when it comes to running between the wickets, at 27. Also, on the viewer, a Dhawan innings doesn't grate.

As Vijay Dahiya says, "Only those desperate to do well find luck come their way."

At almost 28, he is anything but a rookie who has been around in the Domestic circuit for 9 long years. But something has happened in the last few months (apart from wedding his long time kickboxer half Oz-half Bong girlfriend Aesha Mukherjee) that has helped him crack the code, finally.

He walked into the Indian Team & has been talking in hundreds since.

It took nearly a decade for the schoolboy with dazzling shots and free stroke play to overcome his fellow openers to live his dream of donning the blue. The school boy is at it again. The same calculated aggression. The same ravishing stroke play. This time with a  big moustache though. 

[Stats- ESPNcricinfo
Pictures-Google images and Blitz]

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Champions Trophy Preview : Will The Blue Prevail?

IPL IS OVERRRRRR! IPL IS OVERRRRRR!

Hey you yellow & hey you blue, & you, yes you red & you purple, its time to unite.

Take a breath. You have 15 boring overs to chill in the middle & it still wont be gone in a blink.

Oh yes. The 50 overs are crawling back to contention after some heavy dose of Boom-bang-booom.

About time we move on to the omelette from the boiled one. As Mr. Shashtri would say "Quality Cricket" with no meaningless games and run rate boosting minnow bashing. Although the quality of the teams will differ from South Africa to India to Pakistan to NewZealand, every team on their days is capable of winning the other seven.

Check the blue jerseys.

Check the "Go go go Virat" chants.

Check the "Jeetega bhai jeetega, India jeetega" prayers.

Check the mighty superstitions.

THE CHAMPIONS TROPHY IS HERE.

[Issued in viewers' interest : The following article may or may not suffer from major IPL hangovers, occasionally. Although we promise to behave ourselves as much as we can, blame goes out to the grueling bit of cricket (& off-cricket-all-the-wrong-things-too) that took place in the last month or so. Happy reading & sorry in advance!]

However, back to business  what can we expect from the team with five CSKians, three Sun Risers, two Mumbai Indians, two Royal Challengers, two Daredevils and a lone (ex) Warrior ? (#oksorry )

Unlike most of the other selections in the near & a bit distant past, the one for the CT was less outrage-worthy. Like, much. To the utter surprise (i.e : disappointment) of the average cricket pundit, the selectors showed some mostly invisible guts and left out Viru from the probable 30 & ultimately dropping Gauti & Yuvi on the D-day.

Well done, gentlemen! (?) Claps please!
But, a flawless XV, not to be.

Maybe Sandeep Patil & co. were trying to pay a tribute to Cheeka.

Picked Murali Vijay. Why? He showed some form. Format? Tests. When? At home against the kangaroos.

Uh oh. How nice of you guys. See, I'm not trying to rub salt or pepper or chilly. But he averages 17.81 in ODIs, 10.00 overseas (6.00 if you exclude Zim) & well, 22.28 in the just concluded IPL season. (He really did fail in the final even. Yeah, still can't believe.) 
Now thats very unattractive.

Che Pu would've been apt. The technique to deal the bounce & the patience to digest Dhawan-Virat's fury. Boy, he could've been some package. Le sigh yougaiz.

And Irfan's quota, to fault the wise men, could've considered the ever so economical Md. Shami from the Pakistan series. & PK has his amusing off field activities to blame & thus we miss out on seeing the Kumars together, again. Even maybe a surprise package could be arranged in the form of a Siddharth Kaul or an Ishwar Pandey.

OKAY FINE, JUST SAYING.

It feels weird to not to outrage selections. Tcha. Habit you see.

Who are we? Indians!

What do we do? Play cricket!

How do we do? Bat our way to victory!

Now then, the men with the key. As the Gautis & Virus are on a break (hopefully a long one), its time for the moustache to deliver. Da.one ofcourse. But the debate lies within the position of his partner. DK(hopefully his injury is quickly heal-able), Sir Vijay & Rohit. If fit, DK should be the obvious choice because even be the middle order crowded like a office time tube, thinking out of the box straighaway is simply not MSD.

But, that was 'should'. 'Would' will be Vijay! Dont give that damned look people, you know why.

Keys are Dr.3 & Mr.5. Virat fires, we win. Raina fires, we win. Their job is to get to a likely spin disaster & Ishant-mess proof total. Sorry guys, you two need to pull your socks as high up as possible.

In the middle, Mr. Talented looks like getting a chance to prove his omnious lazy elegance, yet again.

But mind you Rohit, this might well be the last. You might have won a trophy beating your very own captain less than a week back but who knows, next time the selectors might get lazy & forget to pick you. Get it lad?

Nothing to say about MSD. Captain knows his favourite format better than all of us combined.

No.7 is tricky. Ideally it should be Irfan because you really dont see the selectors favouring him for anything else other than it being UK & him being a Fast bowling allrounder. May Sir Jadeja blesses him from the bench. Amen.

How we should line up :

Dhawan, DK, Virat, Rohit, Raina, MSD*, Irfan.

How we shouldn't :

Dhawan, Vijay, Virat, Rohit/DK, Raina, MSD*, Jadeja.

Never a stronghold. Will never be. Will always lack something. Existence of same old problems which goes back to old, not so good or good back then yet outdated solutions.

Like getting back to Irfan. He was proven. He has the experience. Reputation too. Form? Who cares. That is how Indian cricket works. Though we have no choice but to give him a go and hope he lives at least upto half of his next Kapil Dev tag (Strictly on cricketing terms and not fixing) which revolved around earlier. Half will do. Or bit less than half even. Something is better than nothing when you consider the fact that next world cup is there in down under.

Here is one Kumar of Indian bowling and he has no criminal cases against him. He is fresh and swings it both the ways around. Meet Mr. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar. In some brilliant form, he is one of our hopes. In fact, he is our strength.

India should go for a lone spinner and is Ashwin really good enough ?

Ashwin who has played his 20% of games outside subcontinent has a poor wicket tally (seven wickets in ten matches at an average of 54.28) and a terrible strike rate (60.8) which is almost double when compared with his sub continent statistics. Amit Mishra on the back of a brilliant IPL who has no significant international numbers to back or neglect- with his corrections to his no ball problems- could well be a choice. With numbers not in his support Ashwin should not consider himself as first choice which is the case for Mishra too. Anyway with the tag of lead Indian spinner (Sorry. He may well just be the go-to-man in India) he could (he will) get into the eleven and We can only hope that , somehow Dhoni rather comes out of the mental block to try and test than dwell on a fixed mindset.

So you might have a question here.

If not Ashwin, then who else? Well. Not exactly. Like the Indian spearhead, Indian lead spinner is also a polished myth as of now. Nice attractive and catchy words, isn't it?

How we should line up ?

Bhuvi, Umesh, Ishant/RVK, Irfan, Ashwin/Mishra.

How we shouldnt?

Any attack with Jaddu. Because we are not playing in India.

And finally, a request or two for the pseudo old man (Look at his beard, dude.) & the real old man.

Dearest Skipper & Mr. Goggles,

• Please give the random stupid selections on board a break. Not to go by reputations & all. (C'on, they won't do those this time around. Will they? Yes? Ouch.)
• Not to play the ones that might risk the fate of our campaign. e.g Vijay & Jaddu.   (As to quote our Skipper Fantastic, "Horses for Courses.")
• Lets NOT offer a (by-all-chances-non-performing-yet-soooo-talented) Rohit a lot of merci. He has had enough when it comes to the blue jersey. Time to hit out or sit out, really.
• Beware of the Africans. They have one bearded genius in their ranks. Then their wicketkeeper batsman can bat a bit to be honest. Plus there is that one beast by the name of Dale Steyn. Although we have a colossal stat of never losing a game to them in CT (Yes. Two out of two. Achievement. No?) But still, beware.
• Last but not least, the off-field issues over the last couple of weeks have been beyond disappointment & distraction. But lets not the dark of betrayal & guilt not hit the boys in blue. Atleast giving it a shot-able, no doubt.

Have had enough, enough, absolutely enough overseas affliction in the last couple of years. Now, just when we started to dream of a crown earned in not so favourable conditions, the darkest era of cricket in India decided to hit us. Hard.

Does that give enough reasons for why we, the battered fans, the scarred pundits would love to see the trophy coming home?

Oh please. Who are we again? We are Indians. Whatever happens, cricket lives on with us. It flows in those veins, man. We can't help it. Like a constant from one of the Physics journals.

Good luck guys.

Asking for a soothing performance for these jaded cricket-corrupt-hearts.

May you return victorious.

(Nothing wrong in hoping. Okay? Okay.)

[ P.S : This preview was written before the mute (almost), reluctant (much), cautious (very) press conference by the respected Captain of the Indian Cricket Team after reaching Birmingham.

                                                                                 i.e : We were a bit lazy to re-edit.]

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Unique, Unrivaled And Unparalleled.

I'm not going to find any adjectives to describe this stadium. It is not possible even. Against the backdrop of snow clad mountains, in Dharamsala, took place a game that defines the greatness of a team that is never tired of winning. Here we go.

19.3 Irfan Pathan to MS Dhoni. Boom. Six over long on.

19.4 Irfan Pathan to MS Dhoni. Boom. No. Booooom. This never looked like landing. CSK are into it again. They have done it again.

That was no big deal. Surely not when you're watching one of the best limited over finishers ever. With 29 required off 12 to get into the playoffs, a place they never missed out in all the 6 seasons till date, all he did was smashing Rusty Theron for a couple of boundaries in the penultimate over before launching his helicopters at Irfan.

This game is an example of how The Chennai Super Kings bat.

The Sun rises in the east. The Sun sets in the West.

A day spans around 24 hours.

Fridays are the best.

Taxes are compulsory.

CSK qualify for the playoffs.

Ladies & Gentlemen, the ultimate constants of life.

So what makes the men in yellow so special? You have your answer in the question itself.


Men Who Matter, With The Bat :

1) The overseas opening slot of the Super Kings have managed to strike gold every single time. Be it Haydos or Du plesis or Mussey over all the seasons. From milking the bowlers from the very first over to giving iron-solid starts to batting through to ensure the hitters a platform, these guys have performed every role to perfection. Irony of the CSK openers is when you look at contemporary MI, still struggling to get their opening combination right after all these years.

2) Raina walks out at 3. One of the better batters in the side if not the best. Apt mix of raw aggression & anchorage. As we'll discuss MSD promoting himself later on, here is another promotion. In fact a giant leap, when compared to his batting position for the national team. With Virat Kohli being the obvious choice, he has the likes of Pujara & Rohit ahead of him, He can never imagine batting at this position for India ever. With short boundaries and flatter pitch negating his short ball worries, how much he enjoys this position?

IPLs top scorer. 2720 runs @140.20

Third highest in terms of Half Centuries. (17)

Second most 6s hitter, after ofcourse, The Gayle. (110)

Only batsman with 400+ runs every season.

Suresh Kumar Raina is indeed the key to how further CSK roars every season.

3) Badrinath. Floater. Support cast mostly. Happy to play the second fiddle & brush the platform to finesse. Crisis man at times. Taking up responsibility in case of early wickets. Batting through & fetching the team a respectable total.

4) HE who? Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Playing higher up the order compared to what he does in the National side.

Result? MAJOR difference.



In T20Is, as journos will say "He likes to hide down the order", really comes a bit too late to finish. But when it comes to CSK, he bats at 4/5 instead of 6/7 & more often than not, manages to take them past the finishing line or atleast close enough for the Jadejas & Morkels & Bravos to subject the final push. Superior, indeed.

But, bigger picture. The greatness of the team is much visible from the fact that its much insulated from the instinctive captaincy. Evident that Captain the player is more valuable than Captain the Captain.

Although you cannot miss the power MSD adds to the value of the team.

Both with the stardom & the bat of course. Chennai's favourite Thala.


The Major Bs - Bowling & Balance :

Bowlers win matches for you. And no one other than CSK has ticked the point better. Even a brief research of their bowling will show how they have always performed as Units. This is not the case with other teams. They usually have a pacer and a spinner in constant and tend to keep on rotating the rest. But CSK, however, differs. & rightfully so. Their bowling attack is balanced and more importantly, constant. Initially in 2010, success was scripted by the spin trio - Murali, Ashwin and Jakati- a strike bowler in Bollinger and a bowling all rounder in the elder Morkel. And when you take this campaign, their attack is built around three medium pacers, a spinner and a slow left arm who can bat. Although the dimension of the bowling has changed, something that never changes with CSK is how they form their bowling line-up. Personnels do differ in minimum but the bowling unit as a whole, remains dead constant.

Balance has been, is & always will be the key no matter whatever the format might be. It gets extra essential in T20s because you cannot afford to make any mistakes whatsoever. Blink & its gone.

CSK, like most of the other things, have mastered this too. Never overdependent on someone/two/three in particular. Like a Gayle for RCB or a Watson for RR or a Marsh-Miller for KXIP. Distribution of Labour as they say. CSK equals the responsibility, top to bottom, I to XIth.

& what happens, everyone wins them matches in return.

The presence of allrounders ofcourse, works like magic.

Whenever you look at a CSK XI, its like OMG he can bat. OMG he bowls too. OMG he is one stupendous fielder too. To sum it all up, they bat too deep, bowl too high & field too good.

The Morkels & Jadejas & Bravos just sit in the middle & create the balance. Impeccable one.

& when it comes to fielding, someone or other is always flying at point & making jaw dropping saves. Be that Mussey. or Raina. Or Jadeja. Or Faf. Or Bravo.

Can you fault them anywhere? Somewhere? Getting jealous like anything.


The Right Ones :

In a tournament overpowered by the Chris Gayles, the AB de Villiers, the Sunil Narines, the Shane Watsons, the Team owners seem to be missing a trick. Dude, this is the Indian Premier League. No?Where are the Indians? This is exactly where the Chennai Super Kings' management has to be credited for their clever domestic picks over the years.

Once you take the other teams on the same board, the truth gets even more brighter. Yes, I'm talking about picking & using local talents & domestic uncappeds. Look at RCB, the Aravinds & Mithuns & Syed Mahammads & Mayank Agarwals & Saurabh Tiwarys. Less the good for nothing. Or the Delhi Daredevils. The Naman Ojhas & Yogesh Nagars. Except for Sandeep Sharma in KXIP & Stuart Binny, Siddharth Trivedi in RR, Ambati Rayudu, Dhawal Kulkarni in MI, more or less, each & every team suffers from the same what CSK DOESN'T.

Be it introducing Ravi Ashwin, now Team India's & CSK's frontline offie.

Or giving rebirth to Murali Vijay to an extent.

Or transforming Badrinath. & Shadab Jakati.

Lets take the example of Mohit Sharma. The latest of this lot. Barely known right arm medium from Haryana, picking up 17 scalps in 13 matches with an astonishing Economy rate of 6.23 & SR of 15.18.

Now that is exactly how you construct an absolutely World class team. Pick the right uncapped domestics. Persist. Win.

That, my friends,

Secret To Success Recipe No. 1.

As Stable As It gets :

MIND BOGGLING CONSISTENCY. That is the apt word for a team that has two trophies from four finals and the baggers of the good old statement of "They never missed out of top 4.". Consistency? How? Key? Stability. Not any major changes even after five full-fledged auctions. Look at Delhi Daredevils for a bad example maybe. ( Ridiculous when you value the current team and players they had in their first three seasons - Dinesh Kartik, Amit Mishra, Shikhar Dhawan, Manoj Tiwary, Gautam Gambhir, ABDV, Daniel Vettori & many more. )

The core was retained. Captain himself, Raina, Albie and Vijay were first on the list. The likes of Ashwin, Badri , Bollinger and Hussey were chased successfully in auctions and thus an unit and thus this ridiculous stability. With the same core, playing together year in year out, obviously gives them better chances of desired results.

CSK plays more as an unit than as a team. Beyond a team, really.

So, Secret To Success Recipe No. 2 : One 9 letter word yet to enter most of the other teams' dictionaries. S T A B I L I T Y.

Peaking at right times, approaching big games with much ease and confidence and more importantly giving their best shot at victory, Chennai Super Kings are precisely, Team peerless.

They have always been the team to beat. & from the looks, they will be.

They run a race. Of their own.

Hands shall be raised. Whistles shall be blown. & the trophy showcase will get more & more & more extended. No doubt about that. (unless some tornado hits the thinktank & blows all the sense away & that looks much unlikely)

The Chennai Super Kings are worth it all.

Wait wait.

I sense another addition here.

On this Sunday.

Year-break hattrick maybe.

Who knows?

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