The experience and quality of Chennai Super Kings’ battle-hardened players should see the team through in the upcoming IPL despite a turbulent build-up caused by 13 Covid-19 cases in the contingent, feels veteran all-rounder Shane Watson.

The CSK unit was rocked by 13 positive cases barely weeks before the September 19 tournament-opener and the list also included two players.

This resulted in an extended quarantine period and a delayed start to their outdoor training session.

It didn’t help matters when Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh announced that their were pulling out of the tournament due to ‘personal reasons.’

Play

But Watson believes that CSK’s experienced veterans have weathered many storms in their careers and should be able to do the same this time too.

“Having an experienced team means your players have more understanding of being able to get their skills to execute under pressure from game one,” Watson said on Nabeel Hashmi’s YouTube show.

The former Australian all-rounder added: “That is why we believe we’ve got a great chance of having a great year because of the quality of players and the experience we’ve got. We’ve got more chance of not making many mistakes trying to get up to speed as quickly as we possibly can.”

Backing it up

Watson also praised CSK’s “world-class” leadership group for backing him during an up-and-down last season.

“The 2018 season was one of my better seasons, it wasn’t just the final (where Watson made a match-winning century).

“But last year, certainly CSK stuck with me through thick and thin. In every other team that I’ve been in, I may have been dropped a couple of games before I got the runs against the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

“Just them backing me, knowing my next few good innings were around the corner, (was amazing). Only world-class leaders will really stick by and have the confidence to do that, given the calibre of the players we’ve got.”