IPL 2020: Chennai Super Kings Can Still Bounce Back In The Tournament- Irfan Pathan

Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan has said that Chennai Super Kings is the only team in the IPL that can bounce back in the tournament even after being at the rock bottom now. Chennai Super Kings have had one of the poorest IPL campaigns by their standards as they have now played 10 matches and won only 3 of those games, lying on the verge of being eliminated from IPL 2020.

On Monday, they lost yet another game in the competition against Rajasthan Royals (RR) as the latter beat them by 7 wickets to go on the 5th spot in the IPL 2020. Having lost their 7th game of the season, Chennai Super Kings are almost eliminated from the tournament as they needed the win against Rajasthan in order to remain in contention for the playoffs.

Irfan Pathan Has Faith In Chennai Super Kings

“If anyone can bounce back – from the seventh or eighth position, this is the team, CSK. CSK know very well how to handle the players, they make the players very comfortable. I was part of that squad in 2015. It’s all about the players. This franchise knows how to run cricket for 21-22 years. In the Chennai league as well, they run the team the same way. It’s all about players. You go out and perform, we will back you up,” Pathan said on Star Sports.

“I’ve been part of a few franchises where the flights used to be early morning. After you finish the game at 11: 30 in the night, you go back and sleep by 2, get up at 6 in the morning, your recovery gets messed up. But CSK made sure that the flights and the players after the game will be later – after 12 or 2 in the afternoon, which means players will recover nicely. These are the small things,” he said.

MS Dhoni Will Take The Team Forward: Irfan Pathan

“We know CSK have been good over the years, this year they’ve had problems with Harbhajan Singh, Suresh Raina not being there, quite a few injuries as well. But still we hope, just because they have a good captain Dhoni, who’s had so much success in IPL cricket, that he will take the team forward even with the kind of situation they are in at the moment,” he said.

If Chennai Super Kings fail to qualify for the IPL 2020 playoffs, this will be the first time that they will do so while competing in the tournament as CSK are the only team in the history of the tournament to have qualified for the playoffs in every season that they have played so far.