Hyderabad: Walking into the press conference dressed in a pair of jeans and the Chennai Super Kings jersey, Mahendra Singh Dhoni was his usual self. Talking about his team’s chances of winning the Oppo Champions League Twenty20 title he said, “We have a very good side. Should we adapt to the conditions quickly, we might go all the way to win it.”
For a team that has players who can hit freely, Chennai is filled with all-rounders. Be it Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Faf du Plessis, Dwayne Smith or Ravichandran Ashwin. But there is one man who changes the dynamics of the team and that is Dwayne Bravo. Dwayne missed the latter part of the Indian Premier League this season due to injury but now is fully fit and Dhoni is upbeat about the fact that he will have the seaming all-rounder back in the side.
“We missed Bravo at the business end of IPL. But now he is fit and having him in the squad gives me a lot of options. Hopefully, we will do well this time,” the skipper said.
A tournament like the Champions League pits players from the world over against each other as well as binds them in the same team. “This is a very good tournament. It’s like we assemble and meet each other and get along. It’s basically like a buffet.”
“We don’t get much time to make a comeback in this event. I personally like the tournament,” Dhoni added.
There has been a lot of talk about the dominance of IPL teams in the League as it is being played in India but Dhoni felt everyone had a chance to make it big. “Indian teams have a good chance. For that matter every team has a fair chance in this tournament. Indian teams know the conditions but in this format I would say everybody stands a chance.”
Raina, who played his part in the recently concluded India-England One-Day International series, is upbeat about his form and looks forward to carrying it into the League. “The ODI tour was good.
I would love to be a positive influence on the team. It’s good to be back with the team. We hit the nets yesterday and the team environment is really good as we have been together for the last seven years. I hope to carry the momentum,” the southpaw said.
On CSK’s chances against Kolkata Knight Riders in their opening match on Wednesday, Dhoni said, “KKR is a good team. We have played each other for a long time. With the retention policy our core team is the same. They have their own strengths and weakness and we have ours. We rely on different strategies.”
