About a year ago, we all were groping in the dark, not really knowing how best to approach the Indian Premier League as far as forming our Chennai Super Kings team from the scratch. In the end, I thought we did a pretty decent job by picking players for specific roles and then fine tuning as we went along. We were hoping to win the inaugural Cup, but lost the final by one ball!
Wiser by our 2008 experience, we went into the auction in Goa on February 6 looking to fill in certain slots rather than carrying out major changes. Our focus was on players who could entertain as well as perform in keeping with our team’s theme of “Fearless Entertainers”. In this context, we were happy to have picked up Andrew Flintoff, affectionately known as Freddie.
With Freddie in our bag, our next task was to get a cover for him since he will be available for only three weeks this season. So, we decided on Thilan Thushara from Sri Lanka who is young and a left-arm fast bowler who can also bat.
Our third foreign signing this year was George Bailey, a young, hard-hitting batsman from Australia came out of the blue, but he could be a cover for our frontline batsmen in case of injury or non-availability due to international commitments.
We also picked up Murali Vijay last year as he will not only strengthen our batting but also provide us an option for the opener’s slot.
If last year was a tough call, then this season, we received some good inputs from our captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni who was keen on an all-rounder. Freddie fitted the bill and Thushara, as I mentioned earlier, is a good cover.
Looking ahead, I think we have a fairly strong team with Matthew Hayden, Jacob Oram and Stephen Fleming available for the entire tournament. Freddie of course will be with us for about three weeks and then Albie Morkel of South African would be joining us. There is a possibility the presence of Freddie and Albie in the team would coincide.
One of the criterions for player selection was to opt for proven material as I feel that IPL is no tournament to blood youngsters. It might be an opportunity for a batsman, but certainly not for a young bowler. The other selection parameter was the profile of a player and one who is appealing to the team.
In this regard, Freddie is a champion in his own right. He also blends well with the team and so we were keen to have him with us.
Our overall strategy for the 2009 IPL will be much the same. We would like to do well in the first round of matches and put other teams under pressure. I think, we have a great team right now and hopefully, that will translate into success.
The other teams too have been strengthened, but with our three-in-one (batsman, wicketkeeper-captain) asset, Dhoni, leading from the front, I am sure my optimism is not misplaced.
