India, May 26 -- It's been one of those mystifying seasons where Chennai Super Kings started off looking dangerously outdated but ended with a promising future. Eight defeats in the first 10 matches of the league phase had severely dented CSK's playoffs chances before the ignominy was completed in the form of a last-spot finish. Yet there is hope.

In Urvil Patel, Ayush Mhatre and Dewald Brevis, CSK have unearthed batting chutzpah they have been lacking for some time now. Season over, the onus is on CSK to not let go of this exciting batting core.

None of them were in the original roster, which wasn't bad to begin with. Rachin Ravindra's international form was too good to be ignored, and it was only prudent that CSK tried to temper his e...