Indian Test legend Cheteshwar Pujara believes that Chennai Super Kings is “one franchise” that has always prepared tracks at the Chepauk as per its strengths and hence finds it difficult to digest head coach Stephen Fleming’s comment of “not having any home advantage”. CSK suffered their heaviest home defeat while chasing, losing by 50 runs to Rajat Patidar-led Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Pujara, who was with the franchise for a season in 2021, also indicated that CSK middle-order comprising Deepak Hooda, Shivam Dube, Sam Curran and Mahendra Singh Dhoni might have to shoulder more responsibility.
“At CSK, you can’t complain. It’s one franchise where they’ve been preparing pitches according to their strengths. If he’s (Fleming) saying that [there is no home advantage, they don’t have a say, then I’m quite surprised,” Pujara said.
Pujara said that the legacy franchises like Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders always get what they want in terms of conditions.
Incidentally, even KKR management is reportedly unhappy as Eden Gardens curator Sujan Mukherjee has refused to provide them with a surface where their main weapon Varun Chakravarthy was clobbered for 43 runs in four overs in the match against RCB.
“If you speak about MI, CSK, KKR - I don’t think that’s the case (them not getting pitches they ask for). Any other franchise, I can still understand. Those (three) franchises make sure they get what they want. Their strength has been when they play at home.”
The man who has 7000-plus Test runs didn’t beat around the bush when he indicated that CSK batting might just lack firepower, which could be dangerous in a marathon tourney like the IPL.
“There is a lot of concern in the batting line-up outside of Rachin Ravindra, Ruturaj Gaikwad because their middle-order will have to click at some point,” Pujara said.
Since the CSK template is to either chase targets in the range of 150-160 or defending totals in the vicinity of 170, Pujara believes that a shift in playing philosophy is the need of the hour even if it means scoring at a quicker clip.
“They will have to start scoring runs quickly. They rely heavily on their middle-order. Yes, their top-order is their strength, but when they don’t perform well that’s the time the middle-order has to step up, it doesn’t look like they’re completely ready for it. “It looks like they’ll need better surfaces to get back into form and when they start playing at home again, they’ll be able to perform well.”
Pujara also said what would hurt a die-hard CSK fan most is the abject surrender.
“There’s a lot to learn for CSK,” he said. “I’ve been part of the franchise. If you’re a CSK fan, you’d really be disappointed today. You tend to lose, but the way they lost this game will put a lot of dents in the dressing room,” he added.
