Chennai Super Kings Look Very Competitive In This IPL: Kevin Pietersen

Former England captain Kevin Pietersen expects the MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings to be extremely competitive in the ongoing season.

Chennai Super Kings endured a horrendous season last year as they failed to qualify for the playoffs for the very first time in their history but the three-time winners have started brilliantly this season, having won three of their first four encounters.

“T20 cricket, you only need a couple of players to be in really good form to get you over the line. I know from experience of playing in these teams that if a couple of batsmen are whacking it out of the park and a couple of bowlers are picking up wickets then they can drag everybody else with them,” Kevin Pietersen told Betway.

“And so, even though Chennai Super Kings weren’t fancied coming into the IPL, guys like Moeen Ali and Faf Du Plessis coming into form was always going to turn that situation around” he added.

‘Ruturaj Gaikwad looks good, Sam Curran is doing the business and MS Dhoni is a masterful captain. Then they’ve got the superstar Ravi Jadeja who seems to be here, there and everywhere,” said Pietersen. ”They’ve got really good players, fantastic T20 players, and it’s only taken a few of them to hit form to get them going. They look very competitive in this IPL now.’ he added.

Moeen Ali has been a revelation in this years’ IPL. Representing Chennai Super Kings, Ali, while batting at No.3, has racked up in excess of 25 runs in each of his first four innings besides chipping in with crucial wickets.

There has been a lot of talk around CSK handling Moeen Ali better as compared to England but Kevin Pietersen believes that even though Moeen Ali is a brilliant T20 cricket, the amount of arsenal that England has in their ranks, it’s difficult to slot him a regular place.

He, however, reckoned that Ali can be a good backup player for England in the upcoming T20 World Cup in case someone gets injured.

”There is talk that this IPL is proving how England underuse Moeen Ali, but it needs to be appreciated how difficult it is to break into that T20 side,’ he said

‘Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Eoin Morgan – the list goes on and on. ‘I don’t think he can be a regular starter, but he’s definitely somebody who can step in where there is illness, injury or somebody needs a rest. ‘He just happens to be playing in a fantastic era of English batsmen. Look at the great Australian side around 20 years ago when guys like Mike Hussey and Damien Martyn were struggling to get in,” signed off Kevin Pietersen.

Also Read: IPL 2021: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, And Glenn Maxwell Urge Fans To Stay Vigilant Amid COVID-19 Outbreak