While the Indian captain M. S. Dhoni may have proved to be the true captain of the ship when it was against the South Africans but his road to the IPL trophy is full of heavy waves. His team Chennai Super Kings will be entering the third season of this much-hyped cricket tournament without the two key all-rounders as Andrew Flintoff and Jacob Oram will be missing from the action.

Though, Oram is expected to join back later in the tournament. The problems don't end here, in fact, they start. Muttiah Muralitharan and Makhaya Ntini, considered to be the backbone of CSK are also not in the best phase of their careers which will put additional pressure on the Captain. Its affair with the auction for third season hasn't been so well either.

After its unsuccessful bets for players like Kieron Pollard, Shane Bond and Kemar Roach, the franchisee settled for ICL-returned Justin Kemp and Sri Lankan all-rounder Thissaara Perera. Clearly, Chennai Super Kings will be banking on their batting line-up and more importantly on their captain to sail through the aimed top slot of the IPL rankings.