The tone for CSK’s downfall was established by the firing. Early on, it had already been difficult to score runs due to Jofra Archer and Burger’s quick time up front with movement and tight lines. Additionally, the bowlers were able to attack the less experienced members of CSK’s top order after Samson was dismissed.

The freedom to appear like a “dumb duck” is an underappreciated luxury that only the inexperienced can afford. As he took on his first full-time captaincy position with the Rajasthan Royals, Riyan Parag was prepared to don the shroud without doubt or guilt.

Naturally, there was a possible reward: Sanju Samson’s dismissal.

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In the game’s second over, he put two of his most athletic players in positions that don’t typically call for the best: Ravindra Jadeja at short third and Jofra Archer at deep backward point. By doing this, he communicated to Samson, the successful opener who was wearing a new yellow jersey, the places his former teammate wanted him to strike.

With some movement available for the pacers, Parag took a chance and offered Samson the opportunity to cut early in his innings. Although Samson didn’t immediately fall for it, the pacers’ temptation made him feel a little uneasy as he tried to find new scoring opportunities and set up his fall. Nandre Burger teased him with a couple inswingers as the pressure from a slow start increased, but one of them moved away and struck the top of the off stump.

In isolation, it appeared to be a superb performance, but it was actually a work of planned poetry. The fielders shifted to their more comfortable positions after Parag’s quirky field-set proved successful.

Even though such tactic was unorthodox, Parag acknowledged that it was motivated by the team analyst’s data. “We wanted to perform something during the first three or four balls [against Sanju]. We decided to move forward with Jadeja’s unique position after that sort of went well, Parag acknowledged. All we wanted to do was focus on the first three to five balls he plays.

We adjusted the fielders appropriately and challenged him to either hit a better shot or a different shot, which is essentially a gamble. However, that puts a large percentage in our favour. We would have preferred it if he had struck the shot he went out to rather than bowling short to him and pulled it, since he enjoys that. We simply aim to give the batters some difficulty while making decisions.

The five-time champions were four wickets down in the powerplay after Ruturaj Gaikwad was forced to play an ugly hack and have his stumps knocked over by Archer, Matt Short was duped by Sandeep Sharma’s lack of speed, and Ayush Mhatre was destroyed by Burger’s quick bouncer. We simply strive to execute,” he continued. “It looks fantastic if it falls off. I’ll be sitting here like a dumb duck if it doesn’t come off and he gets a few cuts.”

Even though the Royals won the toss on a cloudy evening with only a little moisture on the surface due to a rainstorm a few hours prior to the game, everything else went according to plan: they played “smart cricket” and performed well. They made good advantage of the favourable conditions, but they also benefited from the CSK batsmen’s collapse in the face of a double whammy of slow scoring and rapid wickets. As they tried to get out of that predicament, their lack of expertise started to show.

CSK had to call on their Impact Player, Sarfaraz Khan, earlier in the fourth over.

Gaikwad’s departure was a clear sign of panic. However, they made it worse for themselves in Jadeja’s first over with his former squad. Khan showed signs of control of the situation by switching from his recently developed open stance, which he had been using at practice, to a more traditional approach. He pledged to revitalise the innings with Short and rookie Kartik Sharma. But that potential also faded quickly.

Jadeja had him pinged on his pads in front of the stumps after he missed a wild swipe, which he typically does well against spinners. Shivam Dube made an impression in the middle with a strong six, but he was back in the dugout before the next over could begin due to the need to put pressure on the bowler. He was caught at long off and was unable to use his extremely aggressive hitting.

The Royals’ astute strategies, disciplined bowling, and Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s scorching half-century contributed to the eventual 8-wicket victory with almost eight overs remaining. However, CSK’s incapacity to manage pressure with the bat, read the game situation, and choose their shots, along with their dropped catches and other fielding errors later in the game, also played a significant role.

One day they simply failed to show up. They were utterly unprepared for a fight due to their injuries and the absence of their team patriarch. Following the team’s defeat on Monday, Michael Hussey, CSK’s batting coach, acknowledged that “our batsmen struggled to adjust to that movement early.” “Maybe we would have been a little more cautious and tried to get through those first six overs without taking too many wickets if we had our time back.”

But in retrospect, isn’t it easy to say that? They want to play their shots and be aggressive in the manner the game is being played these days. Most likely, today’s conditions weren’t ideal for that. We should learn from this game that if the conditions aren’t ideal, we might need to slightly change our sights and try to score runs in new places. It will undoubtedly teach us a few things. However, we want to attempt to move on and put this one behind us as soon as possible.

The CSK coach hopes that, despite the lessons learned, they won’t carry any extra baggage on their flight back to Chennai, leaving behind self-doubt at the same location where they displayed their terrible shooting choices.

Hussey continued, “It’s never ideal to lose the early wickets,” in an attempt to put the bad shot choices—particularly those made by a number of batsmen with some experience—into context. Players are put in an uncomfortable position. How do they proceed? Do they attempt to withstand some pressure, perhaps scoring a little more slowly while maintaining the wickets? However, you can occasionally put yourself in a difficult situation, so you still need to keep trying to score.

We want guys to be able to evaluate the circumstances as soon as possible and then try to play according to their own ideas. That’s how the game must be played. In retrospect, I’m sure some guys will say, “Maybe I could have played a little differently, but it comes off on another day and they change the momentum of the game. “Therefore, I don’t want our batsmen to think negatively or harbour worries going forward. Players who are self-critical and overthinking, in my opinion, don’t perform at their best.

I would like them to arrive with a clear mindset, a clear idea of how they want to play, a rapid assessment of the situation, and then support themselves. Great if it comes off. If it doesn’t, then, that’s just part of the game. Therefore, I don’t want this performance to distort our team’s judgement and instill fear. We must act swiftly, optimistically, and sort of acknowledge that the performance wasn’t outstanding. Today we were outplayed. There may be some explanations for that, but let’s move on from it and maintain our optimistic outlook.”

On Tuesday, CSK will depart for Chennai with a more dejected squad than the one that arrived in Guwahati. Perhaps they were the ones who, in the end, appeared to be the “dumb ducks” when playing the adventurous Royals on Monday. However, it is the allure of inexperience. Even if they are foolish, there is hope that they will change and turn out well.