Chennai Super Kings won the 2021 season finale and it had much more meaning to it after their rare failure last season in UAE. The opening partnership of CSK had lots to do with the tremendous turnaround. Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis both ended the season as the highest and the second-highest run-getter respectively. In this piece, we look at the stats of their contribution and how it helped CSK in winning their 4th IPL.
Off to a good start
This opening partnership averaged 47.25 in 16 innings and scored 756 runs. When your openers are putting up nearly 50 runs for you either take out a fair bit of the target or have a platform for a big score. Plessis and Gaikwad score a total of 1268 runs in the 2021 season. Even if one of them got out early there was a decent inning coming from the other batsman. In Qualifier 1, when Faf got out on the 2nd ball, Gaikwad played till the 19th over and ensured that the team was not way behind in the run chase. CSK had issues with building a platform in the 2020 season, and the team always found themselves way behind the game with too much to do for the lower-order players.
Seven 50 plus stands in 16 innings and one match where they nearly reached 50, CSK on average was having a score of 50-0 in every second match. Two of these partnerships were converted into a 100 run stand and probably they gave the much-needed start for CSK in the final too, scoring 61 runs for the first wicket.
Complementing each other
Partnerships in cricket are not only a good amount of runs for the team but also looking out for your partner. Building the innings by complementing each other and strategic planning is important. With Plessis and Gaikwad it has been the same in the season. Plessis took the pace bowlers and scored heavily against them and Gaikwad was able to attack the spin bowlers while Plessis rotated strike comfortably. An average of 33 against spinners for Plessis and 40 against pacers for Gaikwad shows that it’s not any weakness but a good attacking plan. Simply, Plessis scored quickly against the pace bowlers and Gaikwad did so against the spinners.
Ruturaj Gaikwad
The youngster had a good finish to the 2020 season with 3 ’50s in a row but had a poor start in the 2021 season with scores of 5,5 and 10. But after that, he showed the cricketing world why CSK had so much faith in him. Only 4 single-digit scores in 16 innings, remember three of them were in the first three innings itself, the player always got a start. In the Indian leg of the tournament, Gaikwad averaged 28 in seven innings, but when the tournament shifted to UAE, the player just changed took his game to the next level. His 88 against MI in the first match after the resumption, when CSK was 4-5 down for approx. 30 runs on the board was probably his best innings in the tournament. In UAE the player averaged 62.7 in 9 innings.
Faf Du Plessis
The international player has been exceptional for CSK in the last 3-4 years but probably 2021 will be one of his best seasons. Though Plessis got out on 0 in the first league match, he crossed the 30 run mark in all the other 6 innings in India,4 of them were 50 + innings. In the Indian leg, he averaged 45.7 scoring 320 runs and in UAE he averaged 34.7. Plessis scored against all the teams except Delhi Capitals. He could only manage 11 runs in the 3 innings against the table toppers. But the player came up with his A-game in the finals when it mattered the most and was in the contest for the orange cap till the last ball of the first innings and missed it by 3 runs.
Conclusion
When one of your openers is consistent throughout the season and backed up by good team performance you will definitely win more matches. And then there is the 2021 season for CSK, when both the openers almost ended up with the same amount of runs and possibly sharing the orange caps on the basis of runs scored.
Often you will see the middle order of a team not getting enough opportunities with such a good opening pair, but CSK the so-called Dad’s Army showed their experience and all the batter contributed when needed. Jadeja with his quick cameos, the 20 run over against KKR. Dhoni taking us all back in time and finishing Qualifier 1. Uthappa with his contribution in the knockout round and the others too when needed.
With the mega auction coming, it will be interesting to see the retentions for CSK. The team management would want to retain the opening pair, but it will be a tough and strategic decision. Hopefully, CSK might go ahead with retaining Gaikwad given his age and might attract very high prices at the auction and try to buy back Faf in a decent amount.