Chennai Super Kings (CSK) coach Stephen Fleming said that they kept losing wickets throughout, due to which consolidation periods became longer and they couldn’t build a partnership, especially against the Rajasthan Royals’ leg-spinners.
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Fleming said that Royals put them under pressure with Jofra Archer leading the way by pegging them back early on a slow wicket and they never really got going from there.
“We just struggled to get any real momentum to put them under enough pressure to create bad balls. They bowled well and we couldn’t get them away.”
After losing Faf du Plessis in the 3rd over of the innings, CSK lost Shane Watson in the 4th. Sam Curran and Ambati Rayudu stitched a partnership together and just when they were looking to accelerate, both of them got out in consecutive overs, increasing pressure on Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja to rebuild.
On a slow track, both the RR spinners Shreyas Gopal and Rahul Tewatia used the conditions to their advantage and didn’t give them any chance to get away. In the second innings, after bowling Jadeja for just one over in the first 10, MS Dhoni brought his spinners only in the 13th over.
Asked why the spinners weren’t given enough overs early on an aiding track, Fleming said that the conditions got a bit easier in the second half with a little dew and credited Jos Buttler for taking on their bowlers and didn’t give them any chance during his partnership with Steve Smith.
After losing the game, CSK now are at the bottom of the points table with 3 wins and 7 losses. Fleming said that morale in the camp is down as with the position they are in, it’s very hard to be upbeat and positive.
Fleming added that with four games remaining they will now look to give youngsters a chance.
“If you look at the three-year cycle (2018-2020), we won the first year, we lost on the last ball, last year. I think we always thought the third year with an ageing group was going to be difficult and Dubai has challenged us with a whole new set of requirements.”Stephen Fleming, Coach, Chennai Super Kings
With four games remaining, CSK will not only have to win all their games but also rely on other results to have a mathematical chance of qualifying for the play-offs.
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