BENGALURU:The essence of dominance lies in its wholesome devastation. One of the facets of dominance is that a team under its spell dictates the dynamics of each aspect of the game in totality. In the case of Chennai Super Kings, now the two-time Champions League Twenty20 winners in addition to been two-time IPL champions, they have set the blueprint for dominance. What makes their dominance endearing is that it is not perfect.
A perfect dominance makes for some boring viewing sometimes. A case in point was Michael Schumacher, who dominated F1 from 2000 to 2004. His dominance was unmatched but there were murmurs of the sport becoming too monotonous or boring. There was a feeling that when a viewer turned on the television to watch the sport, chances were high that they would see Schumacher on top of the podium. There was no anxiety or expectation that something different would come up.
When it comes to CSK, their performances test the entire gamut of human emotions. They produce performances which can put fans on the pedestal of unbelievable happiness yet produce performances which could confound. They would be consistently clinical yet they would sneak through the back door to make it to the knockouts, as was the case in the 2010 and 2012 IPL. This imperfect dominance is the catalyst as to why CSK are THE franchise team to beat in T20 cricket.
Volatility and unpredictability are the antithesis to the dynamics of domination. However, CSK have managed to combine these two points to produce an endearing, imperfect dominance.
When one looks at the performance of the CSK team in IPL and CLT20, there is a sense of totality in both the batting and bowling. The batting has explosive openers in the form of Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum.
When they click, they lay the platform for the first knockout blow. In case they fail, they have the steady influence of Suresh Raina, who is the supreme King in the CSK team with his aggression and maturity. To provide the buffer, they have calm minds in the form of Faf du Plessis, MS Dhoni and Dwayne Bravo who can mould their game to the situation.
The bowling has variety but it can be unpredictable. Their performances have been alot more better andsteady without being jaw-dropping. They do not have names that can run in oppositions but they get the job done.(afp)