When things don’t go your way, people start finding fault in everything. Whether the two are related or not, it doesn’t matter.

The same thing is happening with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the moment. The defending champions have witnessed their worst start to a season, losing three matches on the trot in IPL 2022.

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In their opening encounter, they lost to last season’s runners-up Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Then they failed to defend a mammoth 210 runs in their second match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and now last night they lost to Punjab Kings (PBKS).

It’s hard to tell, it’s the same team that lifted the trophy last year after their worst campaign the year before. Their batting and bowling hasn’t clicked together and it has resulted in three consecutive defeats.

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Watching the players put up a horrendous show game after game, a section of fans have already lost all hopes and have braced themselves for a finish similar to the 2020 edition where they had failed to qualify for the playoffs, finishing second from bottom, for the first time in the history.

Different people are pointing fingers at different reasons for their side’s poor performance. Some are blaming it on the unavailability of their premier pacer Deepak Chahar, while others are pointing fingers at the team’s auction strategy.

© Twitter IPL

However, there is a section of supporters who strongly believe that the franchise is paying the price for letting go off their ‘lucky charm’ Suresh Raina. The 35-year-old southpaw was overlooked at IPL 2022 mega auction by the CSK management as they didn’t find him fitting into the team’s game plan going forward.

There was huge backlash at the time and the same fans are now lashing out at the management for shooting themselves in the foot.

History repeating itself!!
If there is no Raina
There is no CSK left
Without Chinna thala
Csk is always going to finish at bottom of the table
He was Lucky charm of Csk
They day they didn't bought Raina i told my friends Csk gonna lose badly this year like 2020#ipl #PBKSvCSK

— Kanhaiya Lal Saran (@Kanhaiy66444561) April 3, 2022

I miss Suresh Raina this year CSK should have retained him since he is the Mr.IPL. #ChennaiSuperKings #SureshRaina𓃵 #IPL2022 #CSKvsPBKS #WhistlePodu #ChinnaThala #MSDhoni𓃵 pic.twitter.com/e9dOqiGP5Q

— Varsha Chooranolickal (@MartinVarsha) April 3, 2022

The reason behind #CSK𓃬 is Struggling is this Man : #Raina
Chinna Thala Fan pic.twitter.com/MSieAZrQsW

— आyush (@aayushandilya) April 3, 2022

Raina to CSK - Thukra ke mera pyar apna janaja dekhegi pic.twitter.com/CTjc11sZO0

— Vinay Kumar Shukla (@VinayShu1998) April 3, 2022

The last time Raina was not part of the CSK squad in 2020, the franchise had finished second from bottom – their worst finish in IPL. Given their start, many supporters believe that unless something changes drastically in the coming weeks, the outfit is heading in the same direction and will endure the same fate.

For years, Raina was one of the pillars around which the CSK’s batting line-up revolved. He was their 400-run bank and he was a key contributor to their franchise’s success all these years. It’s not easy replacing a gun player like him and perhaps the CSK management must be realising that now.

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