Super Kings’ value pack

Which isn’t to say financial muscle hasn’t been flexed. Like United breaking the British transfer record on Juan Sebastian Veron or Rio Ferdinand to supplement their homegrown players,Chennai too have spent big — breaking the million-dollar barrier on MS Dhoni in the first season and Andrew Flintoff in the second,forking out $4.5 million to retain Dhoni,Raina,Vijay and Albie Morkel this season.

But there has been sound cricketing logic to most of Chennai’s moves,unlike some other franchises whose methods,within the constraints of IPL’s regulations,have come close to the wanton spending and whimsical chopping and changing of Real Madrid or Manchester City.

In European football,a billionaire owner can splash any amount of cash he or she wants on building a squad. In the IPL,with its spending cap,an ill-planned big-money signing can create massive holes in a team.

Consider Robin Uthappa and Yuvraj Singh,who together cost the Pune Warriors nearly $4 million,or close to half of their overall budget. Their signings meant the likes of Mohnish Mishra and Mithun Manhas occupied critical middle order slots,and the bowling lacked proven IPL quality. To further compound this imbalance,Yuvraj and Uthappa often batted at five and six,without enough overs in hand. Uthappa faced only 209 deliveries in 13 innings — or 16 balls per innings.

Other teams misused millionaire batsmen too. Bangalore’s Saurabh Tiwary ($1.6m) and Rajasthan’s Ross Taylor ($1m) walked in at number six and faced 14.46 and 13.82 balls respectively,per innings. Muttiah Muralitharan,who cost the Kochi Tuskers $1.5m,played only five matches.

Tried and tested

By sticking to the tried and tested,and picking players for cricketing reasons rather than nebulous concepts like brand value,Chennai avoided these pitfalls. They knew their best combination well before the tournament began. This meant that pedigreed international players such as Scott Styris,Tim Southee and Nuwan Kulasekara had to sit out most games. “We knew right from the start what their roles would be,and we were very honest with them,” said Chennai coach Stephen Fleming.

Eyebrows might have been raised at the retention of Albie Morkel,a solid,if not particularly spectacular all-rounder,but he has continued taking wickets regularly and contributing vital cameos in difficult situations.

Likewise,few other teams would have had a use for Badrinath at the start of the season,but Chennai valued him for his understated but vital role in the middle-order. It’s no coincidence that Chennai have had seven 50-plus partnerships for the third wicket this season — Badrinath usually comes in at the fall of the second wicket. His 396 runs,meanwhile,came at a higher strike rate than those of Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma,and heightened the damage Dhoni and Raina inflicted.

Chennai could have still lost the final,of course. All it would have taken was another whirlwind knock from Chris Gayle. But the fact that his failure ended Bangalore’s hopes suggested an undue dependence on the Jamaican opener. It’s difficult to pinpoint the most vital cog in the Super Kings machine,however. That might well explain their sustained excellence.

Dhoni enjoys CL final

Meanwhile,the Chennai Super Kings players celebrated their IPL triumph partying till the wee hours while skipper Dhoni enjoyed the Champions League football final between FC Barcelona and Manchester United. According to an eye-witness,the Indian captain along with wife Sakshi went straight to their room to catch up the last 45 minutes of the game.

Chennai’s superiority,in numbers

Chennai’s batsmen scored 19 half centuries between them,easily the highest among IPL teams. Bangalore ranked a distant second,with 11 fifties.

Five of the top fifteen run-getters in the tournament were Chennai batsmen. Mike Hussey,Suresh Raina and Murali Vijay crossed the 400 mark while Subramaniam Badrinath (396) and MS Dhoni (392) came extremely close.

Chennai pairs posted the highest partnerships for the first (159 by Vijay and Hussey against Bangalore),third (124 by Vijay and Badrinath against Punjab) and fourth (96 by Badrinath and Dhoni against Delhi) wickets during the 2011 season.

Three Chennai bowlers — R Ashwin,Doug Bollinger and Albie Morkel — bagged 15 wickets or more this season. Two bowlers crossed that mark for Mumbai and Punjab.

Only once — Albie Morkel’s 0 for 40 against Bangalore in the first qualifier — did a Chennai bowler concede 40 or more in a spell. Among the other teams that reached the playoffs,three spells by Kolkata bowlers,six by Mumbai’s and five by Bangalore’s cost 40 or more.