Stephen Fleming, coach of CSK on Friday said that the must-win game against Mumbai Indians was over in the Powerplay itself when MI pacers Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah reduced them down to 24/5 in the first six oversCSK’s performance extremely dejected Stephen Fleming as he pointed that the team’s show against Mumbai Indians in Sharjah was dismal as CSK were shocked because of MI’s stunning display of pace bowling.
Stephen Fleming: CSK Were Stunned After Terrible Powerplay Where CSK Lost Early Wickets
Stephen Fleming commented that CSK were stunned to lose wickets in the powerplay as the youngsters failed to grab the opportunity to score big runs.
Stephen Fleming said the message in the middle was to score as many runs as possible since the inclusion of Imran Tahir strengthened CSK’s bowling unit. Still, unfortunately, it didn’t work out as per plans as apart from Sam Curran’s 52, no one contributed more than 16. Six batsmen registered single-digit scores as CSK managed 114/9.
“We were pretty stunned really. It was a terrible powerplay. To lose wickets so quickly, so frequently, the game was almost over in the powerplay. Obviously, we had a couple of young guys who had an opportunity we didn’t work out,” Stephen Fleming said during the post-match press conference.
“So the message during the time out was to have some runs on the board to give us half a chance in the game as our bowling was strong due to overseas players,” he added.
CSK scored only 114/9 as MI overcame the score without losing any wicket with openers Quinton De Kock and Ishan Kishan remaining unbeaten on 46 and 68 respectively.
Stephen Fleming: Ruturaj Gaikwad Opened To Introduce Imran Tahir To Have Some Balance In XI
Ruturaj Gaikwad opened the innings for CSK as CSK introduced spinner Imran Tahir in starting XI for the first time in IPL 2020 to have some balance. But Ruturaj Gaikwad failed to score despite playing 5 balls. Another youngster Narayan Jagadeesan was out the first ball as CSK could manage only 114/9 with Trent Boult picking up four wickets. For CSK, Sam Curran was the saving grace scoring 52 off 47 balls with four boundaries and six sixes.
“The pitches are becoming a little more difficult at times and our opening stands have been a little bit of mix. So the plan was to be positive and the reason why Ruturaj Gaikwad was there because we wanted to introduce Tahir to have some balance,” Fleming said.
“Our spin bowling has little bit ineffective so when you have one of the T20 spinners we were keen to play him but we had a poor batting display and it sums up our tournament. Everything we have tried has been opposite,” he added.
CSK made three changes as batsman Ruturaj Gaikwad, spinner Imran Tahir and wicket-keeper batsman Narayan Jagadeesan were included in the playing XI, and Stephen Fleming stressed on the fact that Ruturaj Gaikwad was included in the line-up to accommodate Imran Tahir. However, the batting failure obviously meant they couldn’t give much to the bowlers to defend.
“The reason why he was there was to introduce Tahir. We had a problem with balance throughout; our spin bowling has been a little bit ineffective.
“So when you have one of the best T20 spinners, we were keen to introduce him but when we did that today, we had a poor batting display. It sums up our tournament, everything we tried, turned out to be the opposite,” the former New Zealand skipper said.
This defeat for the three-time champions probably means CSK are out of contention for playoffs for the 1st time since IPL was introduced in 2008 as they are last on the points table with six points having won only three and lost as many as eight matches out of 11 matches played.