5 strategical mistakes made by CSK in IPL 2022

2. Dropping in-form Pretorius

The South African all-rounder, Dwaine Pretorius, is an experienced campaigner in white-ball cricket and has scored 2074 runs and picked up 116 wickets in 159 T20 appearances. The 33-year-old cricketer, who was roped in for his base price of INR 50 lakhs in the auction, made his IPL debut in the team’s second fixture against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).

Pretorius made an immediate impact by giving 31 runs and taking two wickets on his debut, returning as the team’s best bowler as well. In the following league match against the Punjab Kings (PBKS), he returned with figures of 2/30, which included the wicket of Jitesh Sharma, who was striking the ball well.

However, Pretorius was dropped from CSK’s playing XI in their next league match against the Sunrisers Hyderabad despite him being in fine form. The defending champions played Sri Lanka’s Maheesh Theekshana, who remained wicketless on his debut. As a result, the team struggled to pick wickets in the middle overs and lost their fourth league match as well.