Eric Simons, IPL 2020

Back at home after three months of hotel life

Back in Cape Town after almost three months in a hotel room and yet such is the enjoyment of competition that I would still much rather be in Dubai contesting the play-offs. While the atmosphere and the venues may have been different, the intensity of the competition and the desire to win the IPL was as strong as it has always been and I hope that was obvious to the many millions of people around the world who watched on television.

For that alone, the players and support staff of all eight Franchises deserve great credit. As much credit should go to all involved in the decision to stage the tournament in spite of the challenges and to all those involved in the organization which must have been a logistical and planning nightmare. Given the challenges it was a remarkable achievement to have staged a tournament of the IPL’s magnitude and then have it run as smoothly as IPL 2020 ran.

It was anything but normal in so many other ways, as I have described in weeks gone by. Although there were hundreds of millions of dollars at stake and they were the reason such a huge organisational and logistical exercise was undertaken, I’d like to believe it was important to play the tournament for other reasons.

Like finding a way to carry on with life despite the challenges of the pandemic – and providing entertainment or, at least, a welcome distraction for so many people whose lives and incomes have been affected.

Although the tournament was disappointing for the Chennai Super Kings, there were a lot of positive outcomes that we could take from the campaign – mostly that our collective resilience and determination never faded and we finished with three strong victories. It was an extraordinary looking log with just two points between second place and last place with one league match to go.

No doubt we were not alone amongst the bottom four teams thinking ‘if only…’ All four lost at least one game they should have won. In our case it was two, probably even three.

It is said that coaches we don’t really earn our salaries when the team wins but more so when the team is struggling. From a purely coaching perspective we really do learn more through a tough tournament like this one than we would when winning becomes a habit. You do need to trust your processes and not try to reinvent the wheel - that doesn’t change - but you do also need to interrogate each decision and moment of preparation to find the extra 10% (or even 2%) you need to earn the win. It’s a time when team culture and focus is really tested and that was certainly true of CSK this year. You might not be able to see it from the outside, but the way the team never gave up and never turned inward on each other, as often happens, was a great reflection on the way this group of guys goes about their business.

Goodbye to the team Strategy Room.

After our last match against Kings Xl Shane Watson announced his retirement from all cricket in the team huddle. It was a very emotional moment as Shane broke the news. MS Dhoni spoke after him and his words, as always, were clear and insightful. He spoke about never taking the game for granted and finding enjoyment in every moment of playing on some of the biggest stages in the world. What the guys do, he said, is not ‘pressure’ but a huge privilege. To watch one of the hard men of the game emotionally announce his retirement was a clear reminder to everyone in the change room of what this game means to the players. The curtain comes down on a fabulous career after 20 years - reflect on, appreciate and enjoy each moment as you go.

The competition just gets closer and closer every year and, no doubt, it will be exactly the same again if and when the next IPL returns to its usual window in April/May next year. It is the end of the three year cycle and that means there should be a major auction where franchises are allowed to retain three players and have the “right to match” bids on two others within their current squads. This process ensures a balance of strengths across the tournament over time. There was talk of it being a small auction because of the uncertainty around the Coronavirus but the popular opinion as we left Dubai was that it was going to be a full auction.

With the likelihood that next year’s IPL will also be in the UAE, teams will have to be strategic in their auction plans as they will need to cover the playing conditions in Dubai as well as the inevitable return to Indian conditions once we have conquered the pandemic.

While I have left Dubai I remain very interested in how the tournament plays out over the next few days. Mumbai have played consistently good cricket throughout and most of their top players appear to be in-form so it was no surprise to see them win in the Qualifier against Delhi, although the complete domination I didn’t expect. It will take a very good performance from the team who emerges from the playoffs to beat them in the final

While Mumbai have produced match-winning performances throughout their line-up, other teams have tended to rely on a few key performers. Delhi have relied heavily on Shikhar Dhawan’s runs for many of the games – when he fails the team loses. Bangalore have a similar reliance on AB and Virat Kohli, but at least there are two of them. Sunrisers appear to have found an extra dimension in Wriddhiman Saha opening the batting which allows the class of Kane Williamson to slot into the middle order. Perhaps they could spring a surprise?

Good luck to all of them. For me, it’s wonderful to be back in Cape Town. I never thought I would ever spend almost three months in a hotel room. Until next year…