Towards the end of the debacle that was the English summer, an SMS joke had become popular among Indian cricket tragics - that every day since April 2 has been Fools' Day for MS Dhoni's supporters.
It was dark humour at its worst, and sidestepped the fact that Dhoni's Chennai fans didn't have it so bad, with a memorable IPL campaign to savour after the World Cup. The Super Kings' abject Champions League defence, however, means his international blues have now extended to his franchise yellows. It also raises the more uncomfortable question of whether, six months after the best moment of his life, Dhoni has completely lost his winning touch.
By the time the last rites were administered - in front of a shell-shocked crowd that did not know what defeat meant until ten days back - the Super Kings were a poor imitation of the champion outfit whose dominance had become almost inevitable. Prior to this tournament, they had made four finals in five tournaments, and were losing semi-finalists in the other. Their last three campaigns had all ended in title wins. Surely there must have been a catch somewhere in the fine-print?
David Warner's mind-boggling century ended the Super Kings' fairytale in violent fashion, but there were warning signs right through the tournament. The consistency of their Indian batsmen - Suresh Raina, M Vijay and S Badrinath - had been the Super Kings' differentiator in the IPL, where other sides struggled to find domestic players good enough to back up international talent. The trio was collectively off the boil this time, managing a combined 158 runs in 12 outings, at an average of just over 13. Michael Hussey and Dwayne Bravo tried to carry the slack through the tournament, but it was always going to be too much.
While the batsmen were a let-down right through, the bowlers chose to misfire on the biggest day. Albie Morkel pulled out on the eve of the game, leaving the attack and the middle-order short-changed. His absence left the onus on Doug Bollinger and R Ashwin, but Warner had audacious plans in store for both. Ashwin came on inside the Powerplay, and Warner immediately unsettled him with a couple of clobbered switch-hits. Ashwin never recovered.
"He was one of their wicket-takers that we had to respect, but I thought why not go after him," Warner said. "We didn't want him to get on top of the batsmen. I thought the best way to go about it was to switch-hit him and make him think, 'Alright, where do I bowl now'. That's exactly what he did, he stopped at the crease and from there I knew he was going to start dragging them short and not pitch them up. We took him out of the equation and another guy had to stand up for them. Fortunately for us, none of them did."
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