IPL 2020 team profiles: Chennai Super Kings key players, fixtures and predictions

Chennai Super Kings

Based: Dubai

Last season: Runners up

Best finish: Champions in 2010, 2011, 2018

Coach: Stephen Fleming

Captain: MS Dhoni. The next couple of months were due to be the great captain’s international swansong. Then the T20 World Cup was postponed, and he said goodbye in absentia instead. It will be interesting to see what impact the Covid-enforced break from cricket will have had on his ageing limbs.

Standings at the end of the league phase.

Key man: Shane Watson

The Australian all-rounder will be 40 on his next birthday, but is not the oldest in the CSK squad. He has twice been player of the tournament in the IPL, and was man of the match in the final when CSK reclaimed the title two years ago.

Big miss: Where to start?

Chennai do not know what it is like to play the IPL without Suresh Raina. Until now, he has missed just one match in their history. But a family tragedy contributed to him returning home before this tournament has started. CSK will also be without their spin-bowling ace Harbhajan Singh, who has not travelled.

Verdict

CSK are the most consistent high achievers in the IPL. They have not finished outside of the playoff positions in the 12 seasons to date. On average, they finish second in the league.

Fair to say, things have been sent to test them ahead of this campaign. By rights, their chances should have been harpooned by any one of the issues they have faced. A Covid-19 outbreak within their contingent. The withdrawal of two star players – Raina and Harbhajan. The late start to training. And the team owner terming cricketers “prima donnas”.

But captain Dhoni has never been one to stress unduly, and, having just brought the curtain down on his international career, he is probably unlikely to start now. Between him and coach Fleming, CSK are in the safest hands.

Fixtures

1. Match 1, Saturday, September 19, 6pm, Abu Dhabi – Mumbai Indians v Chennai Super Kings

2. Match 4, Tuesday, September 22, 6pm, Sharjah - Rajasthan Royals v Chennai Super Kings

3. Match 7, Friday, September 25, 6pm, Dubai – Chennai Super Kings v Delhi Capitals

4. Match 14, Friday, October 2, 6pm, Dubai – Chennai Super Kings v Sunrisers Hyderabad

5. Match 18, Sunday, October 4, 6pm, Dubai – Kings XI Punjab v Chennai Super Kings

6. Match 21, Wednesday, October 7, 6pm, Abu Dhabi – Kolkata Knight Riders v Chennai Super Kings

7. Match 25, Saturday, October 10, 6pm, Dubai – Chennai Super Kings v Royal Challengers Bangalore

8. Match 29, Tuesday, October 13, 6pm, Dubai – Sunrisers Hyderabad v Chennai Super Kings

9. Match 34, Saturday, October 17, 6pm, Sharjah – Delhi Capitals v Chennai Super Kings

10. Match 37, Monday, October 19, 6pm, Abu Dhabi – Chennai Super Kings v Rajasthan Royals

11. Match 41, Friday, October 23, 6pm, Sharjah – Chennai Super Kings v Mumbai Indians

12. Match 44, Sunday, October 25, 2pm, Dubai – Royal Challengers Bangalore v Chennai Super Kings

13. Match 49, Thursday, October 29, 6pm, Dubai – Chennai Super Kings v Kolkata Knight Riders

14. Match 53, Sunday, November 1, 2pm, Abu Dhabi – Chennai Super Kings v Kings XI Punjab

Other must-tries

Tomato and walnut salad

A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.

Badrijani nigvzit

A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.

Pkhali

This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.

PROFILE OF INVYGO

Started: 2018

Founders: Eslam Hussein and Pulkit Ganjoo

Based: Dubai

Sector: Transport

Size: 9 employees

Investment: $1,275,000

Investors: Class 5 Global, Equitrust, Gulf Islamic Investments, Kairos K50 and William Zeqiri

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