'It hurts me to say this...' - Scott Styris on Chennai Super Kings' hopes in IPL 2020
CSK's comeback
Former New Zealand and Chennai Super Kings all-rounder Scott Styris has said that he doesn’t see MS Dhoni’s side quality to the playoffs of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 given their current position in the points table and miserable form.
CSK are lying bottom of IPL 2020 points table but are still ‘mathematically’ in the competition. CSK’s experience have come handy for them almost in every season but Styris is of the view that the ageing squad was supposed to end their cycle one day and it happened this season.
Super Kings have won just three matches of their 10 games so far and have been playing without Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh, who opted out of the tournament due to personal reasons. Moreover, injuries have hurt CSK really bad this season.
"Short answer and it hurts me to say this, I don't think so. I think they are the one side who are out of this tournament right now," Scott Styris told Star Sports when asked about CSK's chances.
"You could tell by Stephen Fleming's press conference last match. He believes the life cycle of this team is gone. We have been talking about it for 3 years, an ageing, old team. When that is the case, the performances, at some stage, were supposed to fall off the cliff as age catches up. I think this year is the year.
"I think they did well to get as far as they did last year. But there are so many match-winners in that CSK side who are a little bit older or not quite finding form. I can't see them turning it around. Apart from Faf du Plessis, with his consistent performances, and Deepak Chahar, there are not much else."
CSK will face the likes of Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab in their remaining matches.
Super Kings will next take on rivals Mumbai Indians in Sharjah on Friday.