Eric Simons, IPL 2020

Haircuts and bowling in darkness

The greatest challenge for any franchise in today’s world of tournament cricket is to build a sense of belonging. A sense of commitment to a team. Every franchise strives to create something a little special. An environment that makes the player feel a part of something beyond just their personal performance. 

This is particularly challenging when they are only with a franchise for two and a half months of the year. If you want to understand CSK and why it has been so successful you only needed to be at the team gathering we had this morning. Understated and personal it was addressed by the owner, the captain and the coach. The words were inspirational and real. No theatrics or hype for the sake of hype. 

Every organization, sport and business, strives to develop a culture. But is a culture something you create or is it something that develops? Is it the cause of the way you function, or is it the result of the way you function as an organization? CSK has lived and breathed loyalty and cohesion and this has created a culture. Having been a part of this franchise over the past seasons I am more convinced than ever that culture is far more the result of a way of living than something you develop. 

The actions and attitude which say ‘we may own a franchise but we don’t own players’ creates an environment of which players want to be a part.

We are just over 48 hours away from our first match now and the new more focused energy around the squad is very evident. The first week was very much about finding their feet in practice. Checking all the parts are still moving in the right direction and even trying a few new things but one can feel it has moved to game time preparation. Practice is now about tightening technique and a stronger focus on game plan. 

MS Dhoni may have retired from international cricket but he seems more motivated than ever by the IPL. The trademark focus and calmness are as evident as ever and this is an infectious demeanour that he brings to every situation. 

While we move closer to the start of the tournament, our strange existence brought on by Covid is still very much a part of our lives. It still feels slightly strange traveling to practise in two separate coaches – 23 players in one bus and the 18 coaches and support staff in the other. We all live and work in the same bubble so it probably isn’t strictly necessary from a Covid-19 perspective but, at the same time, it would be a bit crowded on one bus and social distancing is still the order of the day. 

We are still in a strictly controlled environment with no access to the outside world – except with our devices, obviously. But there are limits to smart phones and ipads. There are some things which really do have to be done in person. If I gave you 10 guesses who the man in the photo is, and what he does, I suspect you wouldn’t get it. Doctor? Physiotherapist? 

Actually, he’s a barber. Three weeks in quarantine and a few of the guys needed some tidying up. Not trusting each other with the scissors or clippers, there was only one thing to do. Place a local barber in seven days of lock down, test him three times in those seven days and, when all the tests were negative, allow him to enter the bubble. Simple. I doubt he had any idea that he would end up in a full PPE suit inside the Chennai Super Kings bubble when 2020 started. But he did a great job. 

 We are 30 floors up with no balconies or opening windows so it can feel a bit claustrophobic but at least our gym and pool sessions are regular, if strictly controlled. But there is no ‘socialising’ with anyone outside our own camp. There certainly haven’t been any restaurant visits and we always knew there would be no golf on rest days. We have had no discourse with any members of the public – we’re getting to know each other really, really well! 

Some good news is that it looks like Sam Curran and Josh Hazlewood will be able to join us immediately from the bio-secure bubble they were in during the England-Australia series. There are 21 players from England and Australia playing for seven of the eight Franchises so, between them, it seems that they may have found a way to jump through required hoops and with a chartered flight and private airports might well be able to transfer safely from one secure environment to another. What a world we live in.        

Last week I mentioned a discussion we were having amongst ourselves and from it came the question: ‘If the lights were turned out during a delivery, would a batsman prefer to see the ball delivered and travel the first meter, or would he prefer to have the ball delivered in darkness with the lights switched on so that they could see it for a longer time as it traveled the last 19 meters?

The overwhelming consensus was that the first meter was far more important to get information needed to face a delivery. This is very useful information for a bowler to understand as he develops and perfects his variations. The importance of not changing his action is crucial in deceiving the batsman because that is where the batsman is picking up most of his information, even if subconsciously. 

By next week this time we would have played two matches. Hopefully it will be a successful start for us to IPL 2020.