Missing in action: Energy, creativity and identity

CSK, known for home dominance, suddenly looking listless and lost

- SWAROOP SWAMINATHAN @Chennai

ERM. Hmmm. Oh. Meh. These may be the only words or expressions to accurately capture the three hours inside the MA Chidambaram Stadium from 7.30 PM. At its best, it's a cauldron of colour, noise and joy. An emotion.

On Friday night, it was a lifeless circular wall for large parts of Chennai Super Kings' latest anaemic offering dressed in the garb of a T20 match.

What do you prefer? An hour without a boundary? Got you covered. Allowing Moeen Ali to bowl a wicket-maiden in the powerplay? Yep, done. Crashing to their lowest ever total at Chepauk? Tick. Playing out 61 dots—more than half the innings—across a T20 innings? Yes. Just like Manchester United of late, this version of CSK keeps creating unwanted records all over the place. They have now lost five matches in a row in a single season for the first time ever. This is also the first time they have lost three back-to-back matches at their beloved home.