The first quarter horror show that undid CSK

At 3:15 PM local time at Chepauk on Sunday, attendance was just over 17,000 with 15 minutes until the first ball. By 4:15 PM it had swelled to 30,370, but by then a horror show had transpired – the scorecard read 37/4 after 8.2 overs.

It was one of the worst starts in recent IPL memory. CSK came into this contest on the back of a massive statement win in Mumbai, but it was a classic case of taking one step forward and two steps back. Almost a month ago, CSK put on a similar show in their first game in Guwahati. Sunday was an encore.

The ball whizzed past Sanju Samson's outside edge multiple times in the first over from Mohammed Siraj. Kagiso Rabada bowled three overs on the trot in the Powerplay alongside Siraj. Nothing was bowled full, with over 50% of deliveries on a good length and the rest short. There was good bounce, and the ball kept low on occasions. Still, it wasn't a surface where a team needed 12 overs to go past 50 – the slowest this season.

This predicament was largely CSK's own undoing. Urvil Patel finally got a game but Rabada nipped things in the bud. By the last ball of the fourth over, CSK was 25/2. The panic button was pressed. Not picking Sarfaraz Khan already seemed dubious, and now he was summoned as an impact substitute after just four overs – an incredibly early call that drew sharp criticism.

Earlier this year, Stephen Fleming was in the opposition dugout when Dewald Brevis rescued his team from 7/5 in the SA20. Yet on a slightly tricky surface, CSK weren't willing to send Brevis in at No.4. They also had their INR 14.2 crore recruit Kartik Sharma on the sidelines. Fleming revealed post-match that the team 'were a little bit worried' about GT's attack and wanted to strengthen batting. The result: they couldn't call upon Mukesh Choudhary to bowl in the Powerplay and had to hand the ball to Jamie Overton.

Ruturaj Gaikwad began with early boundaries but wickets forced him into a shell – no boundaries off his bat for 35 deliveries. He took 49 balls to bring up his fifty, the slowest in the Impact Sub era. After the fourth over, the run rate didn't touch six again until the 15th over. The team's 100 came after 94 deliveries. For context: DC took 60 balls to reach 100 the previous day, PBKS 32, RR 54, and SRH 41. Despite a lacklustre start, CSK made 119 from their last 10 overs. But the disastrous first ten overs proved decisive as GT chased with relative ease.

"I don't want to sound like I'm making too big an excuse, but I just think the first 10 overs today were tough in terms of conditions," Fleming said.

That's a fair assessment, but it masks that much of the damage was self-inflicted – reckless cricket and reckless decision-making. CSK have played eight games this season. Their home record remains poor. After a five-day break, they return to Chepauk hoping to revitalise the campaign. Reports emerged a day before the game that MS Dhoni was purposefully delaying his return to avoid disrupting a winning combination. It's no longer a winning combination now. If the MI result was morale-boosting, this one was definitely morale-sapping.