IPL 2020 was a horrible season for the Chennai Super Kings. They had too many gaps in the team and every time they managed to fix one issue a new one kept popping up. It’s still early days, but three games in, it looks like 2022 is going to be similar, if not worse for the Chennai Super Kings who are under a new captain in Ravindra Jadeja.

They lost their first three games, finding them in a unique position where they just don’t know how to win. Unlike 2020 though, this time, Chennai Super Kings has a better team but are struggling with performances. There are various factors behind their struggle, and those are hampering them badly as Chennai Super Kings look highly unlikely to make the playoffs going by their early performance.

Chennai Super Kings Struggling with Consistency

Against the Knight Riders, CSK struggled to get moving with the bat. They lost too many wickets up front, but the bowling did well to make a target of 131 look bigger than it actually is. They stretched the game into the final few overs, displaying decent bowling strength. In the second game, the batting went really well with the team making 210, but the bowling struggled this time around as Chennai’s bowling depth came under the scanner. In the third game, the bowlers did a decent job to restrict Punjab in the death, but this time with the bowling doing well the batting struggled.

Chennai found themselves at 43-5 and was out of the game way to early. In the three games so far, one of the departments did a fine job while the other was horrible, resulting in some poor showings.

Ruturaj Gaikwad’s Run of low scores

A major concern for Chennai Super Kings struggle with the bat is Ruturaj Gaikwad. Last season he won the orange cap and was one of the most consistent players. He started the last season poorly as well, and had numbers similar to what we see this year, but with Faf at the other end, the batting didn’t suffer too much despite his early slowness. This year, the line-up is relatively weaker in Faf’s absence, and with Ruturaj not starting well the batting line-up looks worse than it actually is.

Ravindra Jadeja’s Form

Ravindra Jadeja came into the tournament as one of the best all-rounders in the World. He is in the form of his life and to add to his happy moment he has been named captain of n IPL side. He is filling some big shoes with MS Dhoni doing the job since IPL began, and with extra burden on Jadeja, the all-rounder is struggling to make an impact.

He hasn’t been himself with the ball, under bowling himself and with the bat, Jadeja seems stuck and indecisive, not living up to his talent. With Jadeja struggling in both aspects, CSK are missing out on a key part of their team as Ravindra Jadeja has carried Chennai on his own, to may wins in the past.

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Deepak Chahar’s absence

In the first two games, Chennai Super Kings struggle to pick wickets in the powerplay and Deepak Chahar’s absence leaves a big hole in their bowling line-up. He was picked up for 14 crores, seen as a vital member of the side, but due to his injury, Chennai are missing their attack leader and a bowler who almost guarantees wickets in the powerplay. His presence make It easy for the other bowlers as they tend to be under less pressure with wickets taken up front, and his experience has been tough to replace as Chennai tried some new bowlers.

Lack of Aggressive bowlers

Last season, in Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur and Josh Hazlewood Chennai Super Kings had bowlers who could take wickets at will in any stage of the innings. This season though, the likes of Tushar Deshpande and Mukesh Chowdary have not yet made an impact when it comes to taking wickets. They aren’t as aggressive and with Adam Milne injured, taking wickets at any stage of the innings seems tougher.

Both spinners in Ali and Jadeja are more known for their control and economy rather than wickets as well, making it tough for CSK to penetrate batting line-ups. They still have Dwayne Bravo among the wickets, but he generally operates in the death and by the time he comes in, most sides are already ahead of the game and have a lot of wickets in hand. If they want aggression from the bowlers though, Chennai Super Kings have Theekshana, who could do the job with his wrist-spin.