Chennai Super Kings: Decoding their IPL 2024 season in stats
Chennai Super Kings' campaign in the ongoing 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) came to a heartbreaking end. They bowed out after losing their final league-stage fixture against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Saturday. Though the target was 219, CSK needed 201 to secure a playoff berth. However, they were restricted to 191/7. Let's decode their IPL 2024 campaign in numbers.
CSK finished with seven wins
The Super Kings finished fifth in the table with seven wins in 14 matches (NRR: +0.392). Though RCB also claimed seven wins, they piped the five-time champions in terms of NRR with a 28-run win in the virtual qualifier. Notably, CSK won five of their seven games at home, Chennai's MA Chidambaram Stadium. They managed just two wins in seven away fixtures.
Gaikwad led the batting charts for CSK
With 583 runs, skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad finished as CSK's highest run-getter (SR: 141.16). He hammered four fifties besides a ton. Earlier in the season, he also became the fastest Indian to complete 2,000 IPL runs (57 innings). While Shivam Dube mustered 396 runs at a strike rate of 162.29, Daryl Mitchell (318) was the only other CSK batter with 300-plus runs (SR: 142.60).
Dhoni struck at 220.54 in IPL 2024
Former CSK skipper MS Dhoni finished the 2024 IPL season with a tally of 161 runs in 11 innings at 53.66. He struck at 220.54. Dhoni, who often came late down the order, smoked 14 fours and 13 sixes. The wicketkeeper-batter returned unbeaten on eight occasions. It remains to be seen if the 42-year-old returns for the next season as a player.
Lackluster show from Rahane, Rachin
Gaikwad lacked support in the top order as the likes of Ajinkya Rahane and Rachin Ravindra were highly inconsistent. While Rahane 242 runs at 20.16, Rachin scored 222 runs at 22.20 in his maiden IPL season. The latter's only fifty in the season came against RCB in the virtual Qualifier.
Jadeja's all-round brilliance
Meanwhile, veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was impressive across all departments. He made 267 runs at 44.50. His strike rate was a healthy 142.78. The tally includes eight wickets at an economy of 7.85. His tally of six catches in the season was only second to Mitchell (9) among CSK fielders.
Sensational show from Pathirana-Mustafizur
Overseas pacers Mustafizur Rahman (international duty) and Matheesha Pathirana (injury) left the CSK camp midway through the season. This largely hampered the team's progress. While Mustafizur took 14 wickets at an economy of 9.26, Pathirana claimed 13 wickets in just six matches. His economy was 7.68 despite bowling a lot in the death overs.
How did the other bowlers fare?
Deepak Chahar's campaign was also restricted to just eight games due to fitness issues. He claimed five scalps (ER: 8.59). Meanwhile, Tushar Deshpande was CSK's highest wicket-taker with 17 scalps (ER: 8.83). Simarjeet Singh and Shardul Thakur took five wickets apiece. Both conceded runs at an economy of over 9.7.
