IPL 2019: 5 Reasons why CSK are a more formidable team this year 

#1 Availability of core players for the entire season

The core CSK players will be seen in action for the entire season this year

With the fast approaching ICC World Cup, there is a lot of uncertainty over the participation of some of the overseas International players in this year’s IPL. The players from Australia and South Africa are expected to play only in the first few matches of IPL.

In that regard, compared to the other teams, CSK is blessed with so many experienced cricketers who will play the entire season of IPL. The core of the team in the form of Suresh Raina, Shane Watson, Dwayne Bravo, Murali Vijay, Harbhajan Singh, Karn Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Mohit Sharma, David Willey, and Sam Billings are expected to play the entire season. Even Mitchell Santner is likely to play the entire season.

The participation of the South African players like Faf Du Plessis, Imran Tahir and Lungi Ngidi for the entire season is doubtful. The Indian internationals like M.S. Dhoni, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav and Ravindra Jadeja are expected to play in the majority of IPL matches.

The Indian fast bowlers who are part of the World Cup squad and the wrist-spin twins are only expected to be rested for a few IPL games. With Sam Billings in the squad, Dhoni might look to play purely as a batsman in order to reduce his workload behind the wicket ahead of the World Cup.

In contrast to the other IPL teams, CSK will be at their full strength in IPL 2019. With all factors favouring CSK in IPL 2019, they are yet again the favourites to retain the IPL trophy in 2019 for the second time in the IPL history. It will be a reiteration to keep quoting that CSK is the only team to retain the IPL trophy in the history of IPL.