Chennai Super Kings dismantled, Pune hope to emulate former champions

Pune picked MS Dhoni as captain and signed up Stephen Fleming as coach in a bid to replicate the success Chennai Super Kings enjoyed at the IPL for eight years.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina will compete against each other for the first time in the Indian Premier League when the ninth edition gets underway from April.

Dhoni and Raina were picked by the Chennai Super Kings back in 2008. Along with off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, the trio formed a formidable force as CSK won the IPL twice. Under Dhoni's able leadership, they also lifted the Champions League Twenty20 in 2010 and 2014. Ravindra Jadeja came into the mix in 2012 for a whopping Rs 9.8 crore and made an immediate impact with his all-round abilities.

The likes of Faf du Plessis and Dwayne Bravo more firepower to an already strong unit. The Super Kings were virtually unbeatable. The team management had the knack of picking talented youngsters, who performed like seasoned professionals. Spinner Shadab Jakati was fantastic as was Mohit Sharma, who made an impression in the IPL before picking up the new ball for India.

Dhoni the captain was brilliant for CSK. He may not have always set the stage on fire with his bat but his tactics bore fruit more often than not. He led them to the final in the inaugural edition but a star-studded line-up failed to overcome the spunky Rajasthan Royals. Seven years later, both teams were suspended after their officials were found guilty of betting.
The Super Kings, once powerful and mighty, have now been completely dismantled. As many as seven of their players, were among 10 to be picked in the players' draft by new teams Pune and Rajkot.
While Pune snapped up Dhoni, Ashwin and du Plessis, Rajkot snared Raina, Jadeja, Brendon McCullum and Bravo. The dissemination was complete.

There were however no takes for two big Australian names - Michael Hussey, who formed a key part of the Super Kings' success and Rajasthan Royals' Shane Watson were completely ignored by the two teams. They will of course join 38 others in the auctions to be held in February.
The other thing that the draft did was to reveal the teams' strategies. After the obvious first picks, Pune showed they wanted to build their team around batsmen while Rajkot showed a fascination for all-rounders.
However, the obvious preference for CSK players does not guarantee instant success to Pune and Rajkot, who will play only two seasons of the IPL. The Super Kings was like a well-oiled machine - superb planning and even better execution allowed them to retain the core. But Pune, with some smart tactical moves of their own, can cause some stir.
Sanjiv Goenka's New Rising has already announced that Dhoni will be captain while Stephen Fleming (formerly coach of the Chennai Super Kings), will now coach Pune in 2016 and 2017. If they can snare the majority of CSK's core team, who knows what they can do in their brief tenure?