News Analysis India

Tag: Indian Premier League 2022

  • Sky high: Top show on return for Suryakumar Yadav

    Express News Service

    When Mumbai Indians retained Suryakumar Yadav ahead of Ishan Kishan in late 2021, it took quite a few by surprise, especially given the kind of impact the southpaw had in the shortest format that year. The questions only grew louder when the franchise spent Rs 15 crore on Kishan. But the most successful franchise in the league knew what they were doing.

    If Kishan is among the most destructive openers going around in T20s, there were very few who offered the adaptability of Suryakumar — maneuver the field and hit spinners across the park at will and accelerate at a strike rate of 175.49 in the last four overs. Much like Kishan, Suryakumar was also at the peak of his prowess in international cricket before an unfortunate injury ruled him out of the Sri Lanka series and the start of the IPL.

    Coming into the game against Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai had lost their first two, but their biggest boost was the availability of Suryakumar to counter the threat posed by Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy. But Umesh Yadav came out of the syllabus, reducing them to 45 for two in eight overs. In his first three, Umesh gave just 12 runs and removed the dangerous Rohit Sharma.

    When Suryakumar walked into bat, Narine and Chakravarthy were operating from either end. Over the next 18 balls, Mumbai added just nine runs as Suryakumar watched Kishan fall to Cummins. They were in a spot of bother,  stuttering at 55 for three after 11 overs. The middle-order bat, along with Tilak Varma, took his time, deciding to take the game deep.

    They played out one more over of Chakravarthy and when Umesh was brought back for his last over, Suryakumar was batting at nine from 16. It was time to put his foot down and up the ante. Umesh gifted a slower ball and he promptly swatted it to the deep-midwicket boundary.

    The next one, a short delivery, was sliced over third-man for a six. It was the first show of intent. But the SKY special was yet to come.

    With Varma joining the party, the duo took on Rasikh Salam and Chakravarthy, adding 44 runs between overs 13 and 17. Mumbai were still operating at a run-rate of 6.76 and needed a final push. Suryakumar had progressed to 36 off 29, but this time he was up against Narine, who had conceded just 13 runs in three overs.

    The right-hander welcomed Narine with a down-on-one-knee tonk over cow corner for a massive six. A couple of balls later, he rocked back to cut the spinner between gully and deep-point for a four.

    If the sweep off Rasikh wasn’t enough, he saved the best against Andre Russell. A quick short-of-length delivery that was too close to cut, but Suryakumar went down a bit, opened the face of the bat and sliced it over third-man to bring up his fifty in just 36 balls.

    The SKY everyone knew was there. It was like the injury had no impact on him. Although he got out the next over, Pollard’s 5-ball 22 took Mumbai to 161 for four.

    It’s not often an athlete comes up and displays their mastery every time they take the field. Once again, Suryakumar showed that on Wednesday, just like he has time and again whether it’s for Mumbai or India in the last four years.

  • Dinesh Karthik stars in RCB’s come from behind win over Rajasthan Royals

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: A sensational display of hitting from Dinesh Karthik and Shahbaz Ahmed helped RCB recover from a mini batting collapse and record a four-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League here on Tuesday.

    Jos Buttler hammered half a dozen sixes in his unbeaten 70 off 47 balls as Rajasthan Royals grafted their way to 169 for three after RCB opted to bowl.

    Losing four wickets in a space off 11 balls, RCB were in all sorts of trouble at 62 for four before Karthik (44 not out off 23 balls) and Ahmed (45 off 26) took the game away from the opposition with a 67-run partnership off just 33 balls.

    Karthik eventually got the team home in 19.1 overs.

    It was RCB’s second win in three games while it was the first loss of the season for the Royals after consecutive victories.

    At 55 for no loss in the seventh over, RCB were on course in the run chase before the game turned on its head with the Royals taking a flurry of wickets.

    The wily Yuzvendra Chahal (2/15), playing against a team he played for seven seasons, was largely responsible for the RCB collapse.

    He forced an error from Faf du Plessis (29), who mistimed a leg break to be caught at long-on, before cleaning up left-hander David Willey (0) with a classical leg-break.

    Chahal also effected the run out of Virat Kohli (5) after a brilliant take and throw from Royals skipper Sanju Samson.

    Trent Boult then getting rid of Sherfane Rutherford made it 87 for five, leaving RCB in a lot of trouble.

    That was when Karthik, who has shown stellar form this season, came into the middle and brought back RCB into the contest with some sensational strokes including a reverse sweep off Ravichandran Ashwin whose fourth over went for 21 runs.

    Karthik did the bulk of the damage batting alongside Ahmed as they brought up their 50-run stand off just 21 balls.

    Earlier, Buttler, fresh off a hundred in the previous game, had to work hard in his 47-ball knock on a slow Wankhede pitch.

    He had the support of Shimron Hetmyer (42 not out off 31) at the other end as the duo shared an unbeaten 83-run stand off 51 balls.

    Royals did not have the best of times in Powerplay, reaching 35 with the loss of opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (4).

    Buttler and Devdutt Padikkal (37 off 29) started playing their strokes after the Powerplay and shared a 70-run stand to give the innings a move on.

    RCB fielding also helped the Royals as they dropped Buttler twice in the same over bowled by Akash Deep.

    Adding insult to injury, Buttler smashed Akash Deep over long off for a six in the same over.

    After his former RCB teammamte Harshal Patel sent Padikkal back to the dressing room, Samson (8) fell to a soft dismissal off Wanindu Hasaranga.

    It seemed the ball stopped on Samson who offered a sitter straight back to Hasaranga, leaving the Royals at 86 for three in the 12th over.

    In the slog overs, Royals found it tough to get the big hits with RCB bowlers using the conditions effectively.

    Buttler took a step back and let the hard-hitting Hetmyer go for the boundaries.

    However, the English wicketkeeper was back to his fluent best, hitting Mohammad Siraj for successive sixes in the 19th over to get to his half-century.

    Akash Deep ruined his figures in the 20th over when he was at the receiving end for a tight no ball call before Buttler hammered him for couple of maximums over long on.

    Hetmyer finished the innings in style with a six over deep square leg as the final over yielded 23 runs.

    Buttler did not hit a single four in his unbeaten effort.

  • Avesh Khan bowls brilliant 18th over as Lucknow Super Giants beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 12 runs

    By PTI

    NAVI MUMBAI: Lucknow Super Giants paid 25 times more than his base price of Rs 20 lakh to get Avesh Khan’s services in IPL-15.

    The move was worth it as his excellent bowling acted as the catalyst for his team’s 12-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad here on Monday.

    Heading into the lucrative T20 league as the most expensive uncapped Indian player, Avesh picked up four big wickets for only 24 runs and bowled a brilliant 18th over to turn the match decisively in LSG’s favour.

    Asked to bat first, skipper KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda struck useful half-centuries to lift Lucknow Super Giants to 169 for seven after a disastrous start.

    Chasing 170, Kane Williamson’s (16) innovation brought him two fours and a six but he paid the price for going overboard, his ramp shot off Avesh finding a sliding Andrew Tye at short fine leg in the fourth over with SRH score reading 25 for one.

    Avesh brought about Abhishek Sharma’s downfall with a change in pace as the batter failed to read it while trying to loft him.

    As Sharma made his way back to the dugout, last-game’s half centurion Aiden Markram walked out to join Rahul Tripathi in the middle, and the two began rebuilding the SRH innings.

    Placed at 51 for two at the end of the seventh over, Tripathi used Tye’s pace to hit the Australian bowler for three fours and then, using his wrists, smashed Krunal Pandya (2/27) for a six over fine leg.

    A quite 10th over was, however, followed by the dismissal of Markram, the bowler being Krunal.

    Going strong at 44 off 30 balls, Tripathi tried to slog sweep Krunal and hit straight to deep mid-wicket, where Ravi Bishnoi was stationed.

    Nicholas Pooran smashed Krunal over long-on for six and then carted Jason Holder (3/34) for 15 runs to bring the equation down to 50 form the last 30 balls.

    Andrew Tye kept it fairly tight in the 17th over, giving not more than eight runs, before Pooran hoicked Avesh Khan over deep square leg for a maximum.

    However, Avesh had the last laugh as Pooran mistimed his knee-high full toss.

    Earlier, after his team lost three wickets for just 27 runs in the powerplay, Rahul (68 off 50 balls) found an able ally in Hooda (51 off 33 balls) and added 87 runs for the fourth wicket to revive the innings.

    Rahul hit six fours and a six, while Hooda found the fence three times and also cleared it thrice.

    Coming back from a long break after playing their opener last Tuesday, SRH made a dream start and left the Super Giants in all sorts of trouble early on.

    Making a strong comeback after the pounding in his team’s heavy defeat against Rajasthan Royals, Washington Sundar (2/28) was handed the new ball and he delivered in his very first over, and SRH’s second, dismissing the dangerous Quinton de Kock with his off-break bowling on a grassy pitch that prompted Kane Williamson to put two slips when Bhuvneshwar Kumar started the proceedings.

    Backed to bowl in the powerplay despite going for plenty in the previous game, Washington got de Kock (1) to chip one to Williamson at cover.

    Few moments later, Washington had Evin Lewis (1) trapped in front of the wicket after the swashbuckling West Indian batter failed to execute his slog sweep.

    It was another huge wicket for SRH given Lewis’ blazing, match-winning knock against Chennai Super Kings last Thursday.

    Manish Pandey struck Romario Shepherd for a four and a six but then, going for one too many, ended up lobbing a catch to mid-on in the same over to leave LSG in a spot of bother.

    Spurred by the early success, Williamson effected bowling changes frequently but he may have delayed by at least an over in introducing the attacking T Natarajan while opting for Abdul Samad’s innocuous, part-time seam up stuff at the DY Patil Stadium.

    The pacy Umran Malik consistently hit 145 kmps but also leaked plenty of runs, allowing KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda to settle down and revive LSG’s innings.

    Having withstood the early reverses, the duo of Rahul and Hooda went about their task in a professional manner, finding the boundaries as well as running the singles and twos as the 100 came up in the 14th over with Malik going for 16 runs.

    Shepherd broke the partnership when he had Hooda caught in the deep to signal the arrival of the in-form Ayush Badoni (19 off 12), who got into the groove with a boundary.

  • Bowlers deliver, but batters hand CSK third successive defeat

    Express News Service

    CHENNAI: In their second match against Lucknow Super Giants, which they lost, Chennai Super Kings did something that is so uncharacteristic of them. In conditions which their head coach Stephen Fleming later termed it as ‘Niagara Falls’, they handed the ball to two rookies Shivam Dube and Mukhesh Choudhary to bowl 19th and 20th over with 34 runs needed.

    With 210 to defend, as Fleming said, at no stage did they feel comfortable. The dew factor which made it difficult for their spinners to grip the ball and took them out of equation, it also made certain deliveries impossible to execute for seamers. In such conditions, unless you have experience behind you, it is impossible to get your plans right. And other than the dew factor, what they missed against Lucknow was the experience of Deepak Chahar and one of Adam Milne and Chris Jordan.

    On Sunday, against Punjab Kings, they got Jordan back and for a change, had only one inexperienced seamer – Choudhary. While at the end of the player auctions, all things pointed out to Moeen Ali, Devon Conway, Dwayne Bravo and Adam Milne being their first-choice overseas players, the absence of Chahar has changed all of it. As Chahar continues his rehabilitation process, the presence of three seam-bowling all-rounders — Bravo, Jordan and Dwaine Pretorius —  who are more than quite handy with the bat has allowed Chennai to be flexible.

    To compensate for Conway’s omission, Chennai, especially given the conditions which make spinners redundant in the second innings of the match, have chosen to strengthen their bowling. And in Bravo, Pretorius and Jordan have three bowlers who could be used in the end and in the middle. Although Jordan was only playing his first match for Chennai on Sunday, you could see what he brought to the table.

    A skillful T20 operator whose seam-up can be used in the powerplay and an excellent exponent of yorkers in the death, he played the role to perfection. And so did Bravo and Pretorius – another bowler who has compromised on pace for variety and is a death-over specialist for South Africa. On a day where Chennai conceded 180, the three collectively gave away only 85 runs in 11 overs and shared five wickets between them, defying the conditions.

    Like they did against Lucknow, where despite extremely harsh wet conditions, managed to keep the batters in check by bowling wide yorkers and full-deliveries outside off-stump, the trio did the same here against Punjab. That despite being 109/3 at the end of 10 overs, Punjab posted only 180 was largely thanks to the trio.

    But, if rustiness did them in their first match against Kolkata Knight Riders and dew had a say in their defeat to Lucknow, on Sunday Chennai Super Kings had only themselves to blame. Especially the batting unit, which lost four wickets by the time the powerplay ended and had only 27 runs on board. And from there on, Chennai headed only one way, towards, their third successive defeat to the campaign, a feat they have never managed in their history.

    Of course, these are early days, but it is looking far from ideal for Chennai. While they finally seem to have found the right attack, which only strengthen when Chahar returns, unless their batting finds the mojo, this could turn out to be 2020.

    Brief Scores: PBKS 180/8 in 20 overs (Livingstone 60; Jordan 2/23, Pretorius 2/30) bt CSK 126/7 in 18 overs (Dube 57; R Chahar 3/25 Livingstone 2/25, Vaibhav 2/21)

  • Power failure leads to CSK’s third successive defeat

    Express News Service

    CHENNAI: By the time the batting powerplay ended, the match was as good as over for Chennai Super Kings. Punjab Kings’ total of 180 didn’t look all that daunting at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. The smile on Chennai captain Ravindra Jadeja’s face after winning the toss and choosing to bowl first was revealing. That teams have been preferring to chase keeping the dew factor in mind was not surprising, but for Chennai, it was all the more important.

    Having lost two successive matches, Chennai desperately needed this win. Lose here to Punjab and the road ahead will not get any easy, particularly in a format where you play four opponents only once. And despite their bowlers doing a good job after Liam Livingstone (60 off 32b) threatened to take Punjab to a total beyond Chennai’s reach, the defending champions’ batting unit lost the plot at the top. Ruturaj Gaikwad, Robin Uthappa, Moeen Ali and Jadeja were back in the hut inside the powerplay, leaving Chennai reeling at 27/4. And from there on, Chennai headed only one way, towards, their third successive defeat in the campaign, a feat they had never experienced in their history.

    It was a total contrast to how Punjab had started their innings with the bat. Despite losing Mayank Agarwal and Bhanuka Rajapaksa within the second over, they still managed to get 72 runs in the powerplay without the loss of any further wickets. That in Livingstone, they had a free-wheeling batter, who was always going to attack at all points only made it difficult for Chennai. 72/2 became 109/3 by the end of 10 overs. At that stage, 200 looked very much within Punjab’s reach.

    The flipside of Chennai missing Deepak Chahar means it has allowed them to strengthen their seam-bowling depth with their overseas recruits. That Dwayne Bravo, Dwaine Pretorius and Chris Jordan can be counted to bowl in the latter half of the innings and also contribute with the bat is a luxury that only a few teams can enjoy. And this alone seems to be the only area, which is going in a positive direction for Chennai. Bowling full or Yorker lengths wide of off-stump and by mixing their lengths, all three have a knack for bowling to the fields. And on a day where Chennai conceded 180, the three collectively gave away only 85 runs in 11 overs and shared five wickets between them.

    Against teams that have enough firepower in the batting, but are thin on depth, striking early wickets is the ideal scenario. With Chahar missing, Chennai have been unable to get those early breakthroughs. They have picked up only three wickets in the powerplay overs in the three matches they have played and it is beginning to reflect on the overall outcome.

    The story is ditto with the bat. In the first match against Kolkata Knight Riders, they lost two wickets in the powerplay and followed it by one against Lucknow Super Giants. And on Sunday, they lost four. With Chahar missing and the need to strengthen their bowling meant Chennai had to omit opener Devon Conway, a steady man at the top. If bowling was a concern against Lucknow, it was batting that failed against Punjab as Chennai remain winless.

    Brief Scores: PBKS 180/8 in 20 ovs (Livingstone 60; Jordan 2/23, Pretorius 2/30) bt CSK 126/7 in 18 ovs (Dube 57; R Chahar 3/25 Livingstone 2/25, Vaibhav 2/21)

  • IPL’s ticketing partner BookMyShow says crowd capacity increased to 50 per cent

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: IPL’s ticketing partner BookMyShow on Friday said that audience capacity for the current season has been increased to 50 per cent from April 6.

    The Maharashtra government had initially allowed 25 per cent crowds at all the four venues – Wankhede stadium, Brabourne stadium in Mumbai, DY Patil stadium in Navi Mumbai and Maharashtra Cricket Association stadium in Gahunje in Pune.

    “Ticket sales for the next set of matches are live even as the BCCI has announced an increase in stadium occupancy to 50%, which was earlier capped at 25% thereby extending the opportunity for many more fans across India and beyond to experience the IPL action live in the stadia,” BookMyShow claimed in a media release.

    The Maharashtra government had on Thursday decided to do away with all the COVID restrictions, from April 2 in the entire state.

  • Future of KKR is bright under Shreyas Iyer’s captaincy: Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan

    By IANS

    MUMBAI: Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan on Friday said that two-time IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders’ future is bright under the leadership of batter Shreyas Iyer.

    Iyer was appointed captain of the Kolkata side ahead of IPL 2022 and has left everyone impressed with the way he’s led the side so far despite facing a three-wicket loss in a low-scoring thriller to Royal Challengers Bangalore, especially after making a winning start against defending champions Chennai Super Kings.

    “Shreyas Iyer is a brilliant captain. Remember, he picked up (Delhi Capitals) captaincy midway through the season, like Rohit Sharma who was named Mumbai Indians’ captain halfway through the season in IPL 2013. For Delhi Capitals, Shreyas started well under the supervision of coach Ricky Ponting and he kept improving his decision-making skills in his first stint as captain,” said Pathan in an episode of Cricket Live on Star Sports.

    Pathan observed that since the time Iyer moved to Kolkata from Delhi, his leadership skills have got more limelight. “But his captaincy moves are coming to the fore prominently in this season and we will talk more about it as the tournament progresses. He’s a players’ captain. He backs the players at every turn and which is a good sign of a leader. The future of Kolkata is bright under his supervision and we’ve seen glimpses of it in the first couple of games.”

    Kolkata will be hoping that Iyer’s leadership will get them back to winning ways in IPL 2022 against Punjab Kings at the DY Patil Stadium on Friday.

  • Good starting performance can be great for Kuldeep Yadav’s confidence, feels Delhi Capitals’ assistant coach Ajit Agarkar

    By IANS

    PUNE: Delhi Capitals’ assistant coach Ajit Agarkar on Friday felt that left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav’s impressive performance in the start of IPL 2022 can turn out to be a great confidence booster for him. In Delhi’s opening match of the tournament against Mumbai Indians, Yadav broke a 67-run opening partnership by taking the wicket of captain Rohit Sharma.

    He then picked up wickets of Anmolpreet Singh and Kieron Pollard to end with excellent figures of 3/18 in his four overs, earning a Player-of-the-Match award in his comeback to IPL. Now, ahead of Delhi’s second match against newbies Gujarat Titans at Pune, Agarkar hopes that Yadav builds on the good show from the first match.

    “It’s huge. Look, he’s been a fantastic bowler over the years and hasn’t played a lot of cricket in the past two-three years perhaps for various teams like India or franchise. Every time he bowls well, he is going to get you wickets, which is what we hope he can do. I am very happy for him while commentating or watching him work as hard as anyone else. To have a good performance at the start of the tournament can be great for his confidence as well,” said Agarkar in the pre-match virtual press conference.

    In a chase of 178, Delhi were tottering at 104/6 in 13.2 overs. But Lalit Yadav (48 not out off 38 balls) and Axar Patel (38 not out off 17 balls) built an unbroken stand of 75 to complete a come-from-behind win by four wickets. The duo’s ability and handling of pressure situation was something which stood out for Agarkar and provides a huge boost for Delhi’s batting depth.

    “Oh, (very) huge. We know of the depth we have in our batting and are still missing a couple of players who will be joining soon. But the way they just absorbed the pressure while playing against a big team like the Mumbai Indians and couple of top bowlers in the team. The way those two absorbed pressures of a good pitch, fast outfield and dew.

    “But it’s about handling the pressure at that point and someone like Lalit Yadav, who’s been around Delhi Capitals for a while now and these type of pressure situations are not easy to handle. Axar’s been around Indian set-up but even then, to score 9,10, 11 at one point in an over is never easy. It gives us a huge boost, especially from the situation we were in.”

    Agarkar is expecting a run-fest from the match between Delhi and Gujarat, who defeated Lucknow by five wickets for their first-ever IPL win. “They pulled a game towards the end. Like us, they were in a difficult situation. So, when you win from a difficult situation, it always gives you that much confidence as a team.

    “It’s still early days in the tournament and both teams have played just one game as well. Not much of new venue as everyone has played in Pune and everyone expects to have a high-scoring game in the venue. It is about how you execute your skills on the day is what matters at the end of the day.”

  • Bowling simulation: RCB’s Mike Hesson’s new game plan to deal with match pressure

    By IANS

    MUMBAI: Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) director of cricket operations, Mike Hesson has credited his team’s win against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the IPL on March 30 to something he calls ‘bowling simulation’.

    RCB had defeated KKR by three wickets, chasing down the 128-run target with four balls to spare at the DY Patil Stadium.

    The team had undergone an exercise called ‘bowling simulation’ to help plan and execute with clarity under pressure. New RCB skipper Faf du Plessis explained it by saying that, the purpose of the exercise was to “work on two basic things. One is the field setting, and one is the different options you will bowl with that field setting”.

    RCB made a turnaround with the ball after the disappointment of the first game against Punjab Kings. One of the key aspects the team management identified as an area of improvement was the ability to execute plans under pressure. They managed to restrict KKR to a below-par score and then successfully chased down the target.

    “When the game is on the line, whether we are batting or bowling, it’s about how we deal with the game under pressure — the last 5 overs. So, a lot of what we did (was) all of the bowlers sitting with the captain, going through the fieldsets in terms of different options.

    “Obviously, no matter what option you have, what field you have, you have to have at least three options in terms of deliveries you can bowl. And then when you’re under pressure, how are you going to get out of that — whether you’re gonna split the over up, maybe change the field?” Hesson said on RCB Bold Diaries.

    One of the positives for RCB against KKR was the emergence of Akash Deep as a wicket-taking option.

    Speaking about the exercise, the Bengal and RCB pacer said, “The best thing is we got to bowl in open nets, and it was fun. We were given a plan to bowl to. It was made clear that we have to bowl to that plan, irrespective of whether we concede runs or not. It was fun because I had to bowl to a plan and a field that was given. I could execute a few balls well, and some not so much. But I was told not to think about whether or not runs are being conceded, but our job is to bowl to a plan and if we are conceding runs, it’s not an issue.”

    Akash added the exercise gave the players a lot of confidence.

    “We get plenty of confidence… whether or not it goes well, it gives you confidence. It felt quite good,” said Akash, who picked up three wickets against KKR.

  • Lasith Malinga praises Dwayne Bravo for becoming leading wicket-taker in IPL

    By ANI

    MUMBAI: Legendary pacer Lasith Malinga congratulated Chennai Super Kings (CSK) bowler Dwayne Bravo for breaking his all-time IPL record and becoming the highest wicket-taker in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Thursday.

    Bravo broke legendary pacer Lasith Malinga’s record, who spent his entire IPL career with Mumbai Indians, and held the record for the highest number of wickets until Thursday. Malinga, a former player of Mumbai Indians, has 170 wickets on his name with 122 IPL appearances.

    Lasith Malinga, took to his Twitter to wish ‘young man’ Bravo more milestones in the future. “Bravo is a CHAMPION. Congratulations on becoming the highest wicket-taker in IPL history mate @DJBravo47. More to go young man! #IPL2022,” Malinga tweeted.

    Bravo broke the record when he picked the wicket of LSG batter Deepak Hooda in a high-scoring encounter. The all-rounder was the star pick for the Chennai bowlers but he was not able to stop Lucknow from scripting a stunning chase.

    A 61-run knock from wicket-keeper batter Quinton de Kock and an unbeaten 55 from Evin Lewis helped Lucknow Super Giants chase down a huge target of 211 to register a six-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings.

    Meanwhile, this is the first time in Chennai Super Kings history that the defending champions CSK have failed to win their opening two games in the IPL. The new captain Ravindra Jadeja & co are still in search of their maiden set of points in this season.