Aakash Chopra Surprised By Chennai Super Kings' Turnaround In IPL 2021

Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has expressed his astonishment at the stunning turnaround that the MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings scripted in IPL 2021 following a poor last season.

The three-time champions, Chennai Super Kings, endured a forgettable IPL 2020 where they failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in history.

But on return to home soil in the 14th season, fans were greets with CSK of the past as the MS Dhoni-led team won five out of their seven fixtures.

Chopra admitted that he, just like many other cricket followers, didn’t think that Chennai Super Kings will script such an amazing turnaround at the start of the season.

“There was a vast difference between IPL 2020 and IPL 2021. CSK played like a Dad’s Army in 2020 and everyone got the superpowers as soon as 2021 came. The kings had become the Super Kings. Such a transformation can happen in six months, I and a lot of my friends had not thought so. But this team showed that,” said Chopra.

One of the major issues for Chennai Super Kings during the 13th season was the inability of its batters to provide any sort of momentum to the team.

But that wasn’t the case with Faf du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad providing brilliant starts in the powerplay and Moeen Ali’s (who batted at No.3) ability to continue with the momentum that the openers had provided.

With almost every batsman going hammer and tongs from the very outset, as Aakash Chopra rightly pointed out, the biggest change in Chennai Super Kings was their six-hitting ability.

“The first thing that has changed for CSK is their six-hitting ability. If we talk about 2020, it is not that they played only in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, they played in Sharjah as well but were not hitting the sixes,” said Chopra.

“If you talk about 2020, CSK was second-last in terms of the number of sixes. They hit a total of 75 sixes and were taking 22 balls to hit a six while the Mumbai Indians were hitting a six every 13.2 balls and hit 137 in total. This year they have played only seven encounters, and have hit 62 sixes, with a six every 13.1 balls,” concluded Chopra.

Aakash Chopra further admitted that he didn’t think that CSK would qualify for the playoffs after they had lost their first game against Delhi Capitals on a flat Wankhede track, a venue where they were based for the initial part of the season.

“When the first encounters were in the small Wankhede ground and after that they went to Delhi, it was in our mind that Chennai will be stuck because who will hit the sixes. I thought this team will not qualify because of this reason,” added Chopra.

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