Consistency key as Mahendra Singh Dhoni eyes playoffs

MS Dhoni talks to media in Abu Dhabi. — KT photo by Shoaib Anwer

Chennai Super Kings and India captain MS Dhoni said the secret behind being the most successful team in the IPL was consistency and raising their game when it matters the most.

Dhoni, who landed in Abu Dhabi on Sunday night, said that it was vital for each member to know their roles and responsibilities and to keep mistakes to a minimum.

“In a format like this, what is important is to consistently do well and that is why we give a lot of emphasis on reaching the semi-finals. After that, it becomes a lottery format, the reason being one good individual can have a good day and he can take the game away from you. And there are a lot of those kind of individuals who come from all over the world and who can have an impact. It is important that you reach the semi-finals and after that you up your game a bit so that, once you are into the knockout stages, you are playing to the best of your potential that the team has. So, that becomes crucial,” Dhoni said in Abu Dhabi on Monday.

“And as far as our team is concerned, we try to make it clear to the individuals what their roles and responsibilities are. And certainly, more often than not, we try to fulfil them. As human beings, we will make mistakes at some point of time. But we want to keep it very low and the duration between the two mistakes is less. So, that makes us a good side, so, that is what we want to do. Somebody like Suresh (Raina) has a role and we want him to play his role and if he is playing his role, what really happens is that the guys who are batting after him, they are just doing what they know to their best of their potential. So, it makes the job very easy but it doesn’t always go according to script. There will be ups and downs. Somebody will have to take the responsibility and we have to move forward,” he added.

The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are the most successful franchise in the IPL, having won back-to-back titles in 2010 and 2011. And they are the only team to have reached the business end of the competition every season. CSK also won the Champions League Twenty20 in 2010.

With the second player auction being held, all teams went in for an overhaul for this edition but CSK retained the core of their squad. And Dhoni felt that minimal changes to the squad as helped.

“What we have to see is what kind of form the players are in. You have to see the fitness issues at the same time because you play a lot of games and your composition of the side depends on the fitness of the players and their form because you are allowed to play with four foreigners. You have to see the team composition. So, you may have to omit a player who is a big player but if he comes in, the side doesn’t look as balanced as somebody who is not that big a player but fits in well. So, you have to see the balance of the side. The good thing is that we have been a side that has not had many changes. Even after the first auction, we retained as many players. We tried to do that in the second auction which just happened. But there are some things related to money and some teams also want those players. We have tried to retain as many as possible,” said Dhoni.

And despite having players from different nationalities, Dhoni said that having like-minded players in the squad had made his job easy.

“So far, we have been blessed. Right from the start, we have got like-minded players in our squad. It is not like we are looking for it and we did a background check to get anyone. The good things is we got a few players and I think Flem (Stephen Fleming) will agree, we got close to 95 percent of them who are like-minded players. We had difficulty in managing couple of them. Overall, we give a lot of emphasis on the team environment and what we want individuals to do is create an environment where each and everyone is in good mental condition to perform.