Stephen Fleming tried to put a positive spin on his side’s current form in the tournament. © BCCI/IPL Stephen Fleming, the Chennai Super Kings head coach, believed that the six-run margin of defeat between his team and Rajasthan Royals on Sunday was caused by their failings in the powerplay and admitted that they lost the initiative in those six overs. While Royals powered to 79 for 1 in their first six overs, CSK could only manage 42 runs. Chasing a target of 183, CSK were reduced to 5 for 1 in the first three overs, courtesy a fiery short-ball attack by Jofra Archer and Tushar Deshpande. “If you analyse the game, it’s probably the two powerplays (which made the difference),” Fleming admitted following the loss in Guwahati. “Our powerplay with the ball went for the best part of 80 runs (79) and we were only able to manage mid 40s or early 40s (42). That’s on the scoreboard the big difference, and we were also sloppy in the field compared to Rajasthan who were outstanding.” While Royals have themselves been struggling so far this season, registering only their first win in three games so far, CSK hasn’t had it much better. After getting the campaign off to a victorious start, they were handed two defeats in a space of just over 48 hours. Concerns are plenty, none more evident than the batters’ inability to put up big scores. Fleming stated that getting adjusted to a new set of players and combinations in a new cycle is part of the challenge. “The start of a three-year cycle is always a little bit difficult, especially if you’re just short of a little bit of form and we are pushing hard to try and find that form but we’re making mistakes doing it. (We’re) Not far away, just as much as I pointed out the first six overs where we bowled weren’t great, I thought the next 14 were outstanding. You can see the potential that’s there and a little bit better with the bat but still some work to go, no doubt about it.” Even as Royals registered their first win of the season, it was far from a comprehensive team effort. There were moments of individual brilliance, none more pronounced than Nitish Rana’s 36-ball 81 and Wanindu Hasaranga’s spell of 4 for 35 which kept CSK in check as they attempted to claw back into the contest. Fleming heaped praises on both of them and said, “”Nitesh Rana played really well. I thought he combated a bit of bounce and a bit of seam early to get them off to a great start. “(Wanindu Hasaranga) he got some good wickets. On another day it might have been an opportunity for us. I think Parag’s catch (to dismiss Shivam Dube) was the turning point in the match.” “The Dube match-up was going our way but he (Hasaranga) had courage. You can’t deny that and he certainly gave the ball air. Sometimes you give the ball air and in this competition, you can go the distance but he had the courage to do that. Even as most of the batters in the top and middle order are struggling to find their touch, Fleming has defended the decision to not push MS Dhoni higher up in the order, diverting the attention to the other aspects the veteran contributes to for the team. “MS judges it. His body, his knees aren’t what they used to be and he’s moving okay but there’s still a nutrition aspect to it. He can’t bat 10 overs running full stick. So, he will gauge on the day what he can give us. If the game’s in the balance like today, he will go a little bit earlier and he backs other players when other opportunities are up. So, he’s balancing that. “I said it last year, he’s too valuable to us, leadership and wicket keeping, to throw him in at 9, 10 overs. He’s actually never done that. So, look, from around 13, 14 overs, he’s looking to go depending on who’s in. Despite the position CSK find themselves in, Fleming is hoping that the team will show resilience to bounce back from this situation. “I was a little bit grumpy in the last game just with probably the way we read the wicket and the way we played. This game, we were in the fight, which is I’m okay with it. We can get a lot better and that excites me but I do get aware that time goes pretty quickly in this competition. “We’ve won one out of three. It’s not all bad. The competition’s about that – everyone’s sort of beating each other. A couple of teams are up the top. But the way we respond, the resilience to a loss like this is always very important. Going back home, I just hope we can get a wicket that we can understand and play well on with the weapons that we’ve got. But it’s not all bad. We did some good things but we just need to tidy up a few others.”
