Led by the legendary former Indian cricket team captain and recently retired (from international duties) Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Chennai boast of one of the strongest line-ups, both bowling and batting in the Indian T20 League this season. At the top, Chennai have veteran openers in Australia's Shane Watson and South African Faf du Plessis, a stellar duo that has helmed the franchise for a number of years.
Chennai were dealt a huge blow ahead of the commencement of the new season, as vice-captain and the team’s all-time leading runscorer with 4,527 runs, Suresh Raina decided to skip this season in the United Arab Emirates due to personal reasons. However, taking his place at No. 3 in the batting line-up was another veteran batsman, Ambati Rayudu, who’s been stellar for the team since joining them from Mumbai in 2018.
In Ruturaj Gaikwad, Chennai have a wildcard and then it’s the team's two mainstays, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and skipper Dhoni, two of the most reliable batsmen at the death in the Indian T20 League. In West Indies' Dwayne Bravo and England's Sam Curran, Chennai also have two all-rounders that can make a huge impact with the bat.
Chennai started this season with a victory over Mumbai but have since have mostly found the short end of the stick and slipped down to the bottom of the standings, but Faf du Plessis has been among the runs and is the team's leading run-scorer. Here are the team's top five run-scorers so far this season:
|
Player |
Runs |
Average |
Strike Rate |
|
Faf du Plessis |
449 |
40.81 |
140.75 |
|
Ambati Rayudu |
359 |
39.88 |
127.30 |
|
Shane Watson |
299 |
29.90 |
121.05 |
|
Ravindra Jadeja |
232 |
46.40 |
171.85 |
|
Ruturaj Gaikwad |
204 |
51.00 |
120.71 |
Feature image courtesy: Twitter.com / Chennai
