IPL 2023: With Ben Stokes, CSK is now the all-rounder’s military

Ahead of the 2018 IPL season and upon their return from a two-year suspension following the match fixing saga, the Chennai Super Kings have been branded as ‘dad’s military’. With a squad common age of 34, even captain cool MS Dhoni had shared his reservations.

“The age group of the boys was definitely a concern, you had to keep them fit. We had to take care of the resources and to make sure that when we come to the business end of the tournament, the best XI is available for selection,” Dhoni would say forward of the ultimate. Yep, the oldest squad of all managed to go all the best way in a format perceived match for the youngest.

It wasn’t a one off. In 2021, the CSK squad had 13 gamers with an age of 30 or extra. Despite that, a fourth title was received. The ‘dad’s military’ wasn’t one to be trifled with. But in a method they have been in want for a revamp: A brand new line of gamers to be burdened with strain; a brand new formulation to win video games.

Going into the sixteenth version of the league, it looks like CSK have pulled out a web page from the playbook of Mumbai Indians, their closest rivals when it comes to silverware success. Like the Rohit Sharma-led facet did throughout their earlier two public sale cycles, CSK are reliant upon all-rounders. An influence trinity of their very own as Mumbai had in Kieron Pollard and the Pandya brothers. Bringing in Ben Stokes to accompany Ravindra Jadeja and Moeen Ali, who have been pivotal to their success in 2021.

While Jadeja’s contributions to the franchise needn’t be talked about, Ali has additionally been pivotal to the facet and cooked instantaneous affect performances in his first season in 2021. The duo accounted for a complete of 584 runs and 19 wickets in CSK’s earlier title triumph.

Idhu namma all’u!#AllRoundersUnion 🦁💛 pic.twitter.com/KZwFPZU4Kc

— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) March 28, 2023

With Ali consolidating fast runs at quantity three and Jadeja taking on the fabled ending duties decrease down the batting order, Stokes being sandwiched in provides some much-needed firepower.

In him, CSK could have an extra bowling choice, one thing MS Dhoni as captain has at all times prioritised. (Even although the CSK batting coach Mike Hussey did affirm that the England Test captain will start the season solely as a specialist batter owing to a knee damage administration.)

Shivam Dube noticed a second coming for his IPL profession with 289 runs at a strike charge of 156.22 and is greater than helpful with the ball. Then there’s Deepak Chahar, who other than being CSK’s prime swing service provider, has proven his worth with the bat as effectively. Rajvardhan Hangargekar can amp up the heartbeats of the pace gun however may also tonk the ball afar as he did in India’s U19 World Cup win final 12 months.

CSK have been already outfitted with multi-taskers. The addition of Stokes simply provides extra high quality in that lineup.

The 2023 season will see the implementation of the Impact Player rule in IPL. Cricket’s model of substitution in soccer. Something that negates the position of all-rounders as urged by Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting earlier this season.

“You don’t need to pick all-rounders now because you can name a batting or a bowling-heavy team and just take one out and bring the other in. Unless they’re absolutely world-class and they’re getting picked either as a batsman or as a bowler, and not as a bits-and-pieces player then I don’t see many teams this year use the guy that might bat at seven and bowl an over or two,” Ponting mentioned.

But then once more, CSK have been at their finest whereas refraining from what’s a typically accepted rule.

IPL 2023: CSK Full Squad

MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, Subhranshu Senapati, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Mukesh Choudhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Simarjeet Singh, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana, Ajinkya Rahane, Ben Stokes, Shaik Rasheed, Nishant Sindhu, Kyle Jamieson, Ajay Mandal, Bhagath Varma, Sisanda Magala