Top 4 reasons why Chennai Super Kings are favorites to win IPL 2020?

What are the chances of other teams?

MS Dhoni-led side Chennai Super Kings (CSK) has been the second most successful team of IPL with 3 titles in 12 seasons, despite undergoing a 2-year ban (2016-17). They have reached playoffs in all the season played so far. IPL is scheduled from 19th September to 10th October in UAE. Without any doubt, Chennai Super Kings are the runaway favorites in this season pre-tournament.

• MS Dhoni both as a captain and batsman

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been the most successful captain of this decade. CSK has the highest win percentage of 60.61 with 100 victories for the team. He has led the team brilliantly. The team under the captaincy of MSD has won matches from pressure situations.

As a batsman, he has proved the world that he is still fit enough to serve any team for at least 2 years. His practice session and dedication towards the game clearly indicate that passion for the game persists in him.

• UAE pitch and conditions suit CSK

In the previous seasons, CSK’s home ground was in Chepauk, Chennai. The pitch at chepauk suits the spinners a lot. It offers turn and bounce for the spin bowlers. CSK had picked their bowlers in the auctions based on the pitch at home. They have Piyush Chawla, Karn Sharma, Imran Tahir, and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh who can utilize these conditions really well. But when they go away from home their spin department didn’t work much because the other pitches offer pace to the batsmen. They don’t have the quality pace-bowlers like they had in the spin department. That’s the reason why their home win percentage (69) is more than away.

But this time they are playing in UAE on the grounds of Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai. All the pitches will help the spin department and no ground will be home and away for CSK. They will perform equally well in all the three grounds which makes then favorites to win this IPL season. UAE is also humid like the weather in Chennai hence they won’t feel much exhausted much playing both day (3:30) and night matches (7:30).

• Early preparations

There is a very famous quote -” Preparation comes before success even in the dictionary”. CSK is the first team to set up their training camps. They always plan their strategies one-month prior to the tournament. When IPL was earlier scheduled in March 2020 it was CSK who started their net sessions.

Recently we saw CSK players Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, Piyush Chawla, Deepak Chaharassemble together at Chennai to catch the flight for UAE. They are the first team to unite together. This improves the team bonding which will be very helpful later on during match day.

• Experienced Team

Chennai’s biggest reason for success is the experience that they possess in the team. Most of the players are either retired foreign cricketers or who are at the stage of retirement. Their average age in the team in 30 plus+. This experience will come handy in pressure situations. When early wickets falls, this team has the players who can cross the finish line safely.

Chennai Super Kings Squad:

MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Piyush Chawla, Dwayne Bravo, Sam Curran, Karn Sharma, Shane Watson, Shardul Thakur, Ambati Rayudu, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Vijay, Josh Hazlewood, Francois Du Plessis, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Santner, KM Asif, Narayan Jagadeesan,Monu Kumar, RutuRaj Gaikwad, R. Sai Kishore 

What are the chances of others?

T20 is a format where anything can happen. It is not necessary that CSK will dominate the entire tournament. There are other teams as well who will give a tough fight.

Experts predict that this time there will be a new winner looking at the venue of this year’s IPL.

Royal Challengers Banglore who are tagged as chokers can do well in this season away from India. Usually the ground at Chinnaswamy, Banglore is very small, therefore RCB bowlers get hit all over the park. This time the venue is UAE and the grounds are quite large compared to Chinnaswamy. They have quality spinners with likes of YuziChahal,  Pawan Negi, and Moen Ali who can utilize these pitches in UAE. There not much fear for RCB bowlers to get hit in the slog overs.

Delhi Capitals is yet another team that can win the title considering the quality spinners they have. Overall the bowlers will be key players in winning the matches for all the teams.