Simarjeet Singh provides pace-bowling solace to CSK in the Himalayas

Traveling to the mountains will be part of most people’s bucket lists. The atmosphere may be thinner, but the vibe is to die for. The serenity, the peace, the solace you find in the mountains – all of that is unmatchable.

Add to that a stunning cricket ground, and the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala enters the conversation. It is one of the most beautiful venues to play cricket, and a venue the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have fond memories of.

It was in 2010 when CSK, knowing that they needed a win to qualify for the semi-finals, turned on the style. MS Dhoni, unsurprisingly, was front and center and his punch-to-the-jaw celebration has been revered ever since.

Fourteen years later, CSK and their fans arrived, desperately needing two points. The stakes were not as high as they were in 2010, given they would still have three matches after the fixture against the Punjab Kings, but a win seemed necessary nonetheless.

The anticipation, no doubt, would have been to see Dhoni in the flesh and see him roll back the years. It did not pan out that way, unfortunately. An unheralded pacer, though, did leave his mark and that immediately made the trip to the mountains worthwhile.

Simarjeet Singh has been a part of the CSK franchise since 2022. In that year, when they were struggling with injuries, he played six games, picking up four wickets. His economy rate was not bad either (7.67) and he was one of the positives from the season, according to Dhoni.

But then, injury struck. And before he took to the field on Sunday, he had gone almost a year and a half without a competitive appearance – his last being a First-Class match for Delhi against Assam in December 2022.

So, from a personal standpoint, there was plenty Simarjeet could have been nervous about. Will the body give way again? Will it be able to sustain the load I am asking of it? Can the rhythm be as good as it was before the injury?

Simarjeet Singh was superb for CSK against PBKS

The opening three balls that Simarjeet bowled, though, answered a few of those questions. The first was a shortish delivery that rushed Sam Curran on the pull. The second was a similarly sharp back of a length delivery outside off. It was the third ball, however, that caught everyone’s eye.

It was banged into the track and Curran, usually a decent puller of the ball, got into an awkward tangle. He managed to fend it away behind square, but that was the clearest indication yet that he was uncomfortable facing Simarjeet’s pace.

The speed that he was generating got the better of Jitesh Sharma. The wicket-keeper, trying to slash the ball, was a smidgen late on the stroke and was also defeated by the extra bounce Simarjeet generated. The ball zipped off the surface and then off the outside edge, nestling into Dhoni’s gloves eventually.

Simarjeet kept causing problems thereafter. Ashutosh Sharma, who has shot into fame this season courtesy of his fearless ball-striking, could never come to grips with the pacer’s nip. He got into several tangles, wore blows on the body, and had Moeen Ali not dropped a sitter, would have handed Simarjeet his second scalp.

As it turned out, the CSK pacer did get his second wicket. After Harshal Patel had used Simarjeet’s pace to collect two boundaries behind square, he tried to be more ambitious, thinking he was now used to the speed.

That proved to be a bad idea. A very bad one, in fact. A hard-length ball rose to the chest and got big on Harshal. He hacked at it anyway but could only get it as far as square leg.

Simarjeet, through this two-wicket spell, regularly hurried the batters into their strokes, almost bullying them into submission during the middle overs. A bit of that could be down to the two-paced nature of the surface but it also had lots to do with his whippy wrist-action.

This comparison will feel premature but he, like Jofra Archer, runs relatively straight, is quite chest-on in his action, but then snaps his wrists into the delivery. That, ideally, should give him extra bounce and at times, some extra zip off the surface.

Captain Ruturaj Gaikwad said as much at the post-match presentation, shedding light on how Simarjeet had been clocking close to 150kph in the pre-season camp. He is tall too, and has a completely different profile to the other Indian fast-bowlers in the CSK squad.

So, there is plenty to work with. That he did not miss a beat, despite having not played competitive cricket for more than 15 months, also shows that he has a good head on his shoulders. All of this is important because of how many injuries CSK are dealing with.

Matheesha Pathirana has gone back to Sri Lanka to nurse a hamstring injury. Deepak Chahar may not play again this season. Shardul Thakur, whenever he has played, has conceded runs, and Mustafizur Rahman has flown away for international duty.

So, if Simarjeet can be this middle-overs enforcer, it allows CSK to use Richard Gleeson at the death, and possibly Mitchell Santner with the new ball – both of whom have experience performing those roles.

When CSK arrived in Dharamsala, with the Himalayan mountains in the background, they might have been a restless bunch, largely because of the uncertainty. The zen, usually attached to such a location, might have given way to the urge to make things happen, given what has unfolded in the past few games.

After 20 overs of indifferent batting, they got what they dearly craved – two points and a bowling display to die for. One that was just as scenic as the surroundings. Signed, sealed, and delivered by Simarjeet.

Some of the balls he bowled might have even melted the snow-capped peaks in the distance, had they been in the near vicinity. He was sharp, he was hustling and harrying the batters, and he rarely gave them a moment to breathe, let alone think about a riposte.

The CSK fans may have come for some MSD magic in the mountains. They saw the genius of Thalapathy (Ravindra Jadeja) but almost all of them would have stayed back for Simarjeet and how he brought a knackered bowling attack back to its feet.

It remains to be seen if Simarjeet can keep this up, and one game, as often seen in the IPL, is usually not enough to get excited over.

But if you are a CSK fan, how can you not get excited about him? This is not his first season, remember, but he seems a completely different bowler to the one who featured in 2022, when he got the new ball to move around, but was not as zippy as he was on Sunday.

That, above all, has given CSK and their fans some hope. Hope that they can somehow offset the injuries and non-availability of key fast bowlers.

It may not be much, but it is solace for them, and perhaps enough for now too. Solace provided by Simarjeet in the Himalayan mountains, and enough to dare them to dream again.