Just a solitary sport into the latter half of the season and Chennai Super Kings has began planning for the next Indian Premier League version. Head coach Stephen Fleming said that the franchise will attempt to utilise the remaining matches to optimise its probabilities of grooming children, ought to it formally bow out of the playoffs race.
“We are realistic about the position that we are in, but there will be no stone unturned looking for players for next year, combinations for next year and we will see it as an opportunity,” Fleming mentioned after the workforce’s nine-wicket loss to Mumbai Indians on the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday evening.
“(It is) not a great opportunity because we want to be at the pointy end of the competition, but if it works out that there is no chance of us getting through (to the playoffs), we will certainly make the most of it.”
At a time when the batting line-up seems to be extraordinarily shaky, CSK in its final two outings handed debuts to promising home batters Shaik Rasheed and Ayush Mhatre. Despite the 2 displaying glimpses of their expertise, Super Kings have been stifled in the center overs on Sunday.
Did Ravindra Jadeja and Shivam Dube bat too conservatively?
“We are not trying to play a conservative brand of cricket, we are just lacking a little bit of confidence and we are just changing personnel through one reason or another,” Fleming mentioned.
“They (Jadeja and Dube) did feel that the ball was stopping which made it difficult, but we need to be more proactive all the way through. We are just trying to find a tempo that’s going to help us compete and at the moment, we might get it right in one area, but other areas are letting us down. We are plugging holes in one spot, but it’s still leaking in others and that can often be the case when you are just a little bit down on fortune.”
Published – April 21, 2025 06:04 pm IST
