Chennai Super Kings was knocked out of the last IPL season before the playoffs.
Ex-India cricketer Parthiv Patel isn't counting out Chennai Super Kings (CSK) with the set of players they have for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) season. He talked about Ruturaj Gaikwad's form in domestic cricket and the return of Suresh Raina in the side which could be a huge boost for them.
Parthiv also mentioned that CSK captain MS Dhoni is eager to put his side back on track after a debacle last season. Dhoni has already started practicing at Chepauk before the IPL 2021.
The franchise has a few new additions after the recent IPL 2021 auction. Parthiv feels the inclusion of Moeen Ali and K Gowtham will provide strength to CSK's batting unit.
“See, obviously they must be slightly disappointed that they have to get out of Chennai because they have got Moeen Ali in their squad, they have got K Gowtham in their squad. Last year, what went wrong for CSK was, that they were not getting enough runs on the board. Then, in the latter half of the tournament, you saw the emergence of Ruturaj Gaikwad,” said Parthiv on Star Sports’ show Cricket Connected.
Raina had missed out on the last season citing personal reasons. He was retained by the franchise ahead of IPL 2021 auction and the southpaw will continue to play with CSK.
“And now with Suresh Raina coming in the squad. I think he holds key in the CSK line-up and we have seen what he has done throughout the years of IPL. With him coming back and Ruturaj Gaikwad doing well in domestic cricket and plus MS Dhoni, they’re great players and you can’t count them out for too long,” he further said.
“He (MS Dhoni) had an indifferent season last year but as we saw how keen he is (spoke to him few times) and he is very determined to get CSK’s ball rolling to start with,” Parthiv added.
Super Kings have a good record in IPL and Parthiv believes they will get back to the winning ways again. Their first clash of the IPL 2021 is against Delhi Capitals at Mumbai on April 10.
“These are the teams who have done well and they know that once they win the first game or the second game — they can start believing again. So, it won’t take much of time for CSK to start the tournament in a positive manner,” said Parthiv.
(With ANI Inputs)