A stress test awaits CSK at home

"I stress that it's not the same as what we left [in 2019]. We've worked hard to try and understand [the conditions], we're still trying to understand..." Stephen Fleming was trying to make sense of Chennai Super Kings' 4-3 home record last year. It seemed like an aberration for the eventual champions of 2023 because in each of the two previous seasons -- 2019 & 2015 -- that had CSK playing their entire set of home league games at Chepauk, they dropped only one match.

A year on and CSK would seem no closer to solving the puzzles that their citadel is keen on throwing their way with captain Ruturaj Gaikwad even publicly expressing a dislike for the red-soil pitch that was used last time around, against Punjab Kings. A defeat on Sunday to Rajasthan Royals will mark a second straight year with a 4-3 record and inflict severe qualification jeopardy on the holders, whose inconsistent form has left them scrambling in the 11th hour.

Conditions, however, cannot detract from a strange season, one in which injuries and erratic form has left the CSK boat with more holes than there are fingers to plug them. And there are really no easy fixes at this juncture. They have to pick one side - batting or bowling - and hope the trade-off works. For example, in Ahmedabad, they dropped Richard Gleeson and reintroduced Rachin Ravindra to address top-order troubles, but as it turned out, the Gujarat Titans plundered 231 runs and had CSK reeling at 10 for 3 in the chase.

Exacerbating the dilemma is the rapid turnaround from the last game as well as a new unknown. It is uncertain how conditions will evolve in the first afternoon game of the season here. If it takes turn, then with home-town hero Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal in their ranks, the Royals could be well placed to exploit it. Having lost two close games on the bounce with the middle-order unable to close out chases, Sanju Samson and Co. will be out to chart an stress-free path into the playoffs themselves. As such, even with enough on the plate for a tasty encounter, the on-field narrative could just end up paling in comparison to the '