IPL 2020: ‘We are a bit muddled at the moment’, says CSK coach Stephen Fleming

Dubai: Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) head coach Stephen Fleming described the team’s two successive losses in IPL 2020 as “muddled” and said they were missing some key players. On Friday (September 25), CSK lost to Delhi Capitals (DC), failing to chase down 176. The three-time champions were defeated by 44 runs at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

First Published Sep 26, 2020, 11:43 AM IST

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Speaking at the post-match press conference, Fleming said, “Well, we're a bit muddled at the moment. We're missing some key players, and we're trying to find a balance that allows us to be competitive.”

For the whole tournament, CSK will be without Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh, who have opted out due to personal reasons. Also, Ambati Rayudu is injured and missed two games.

The New Zealander added, “We're looking to develop a personality based on the wickets that we're facing. Each wicket has been completely different, and our batting line-up is, without Rayudu, (Suresh) Raina etc, we're trying to find a way or a combination and how to use players, and give players opportunities early on, so we know what we've got as the tournament goes on. We've learned a massive amount over three days. Today's performance was on the weak side in terms of intent, but they (the Capitals) also bowled very well.”

On the team combination, he elaborated, “All bets are on the table at the moment as we try to find a way that we are comfortable with. We are looking forward to playing a number of games here (in Dubai), so we were really interested in how this pitch played, and get conditions right so we can get the right combination. At the moment we're really searching, both as players and as management, to get the combination right. We're too batter-heavy if we play the extra batter and too bowler-heavy if we play the extra bowler. We're struggling a little bit to find our momentum but that will come with a bit of time off and experience from these three games.”

This was the second time in a row that CSK batsmen failed to chase down a target. Earlier, they had faltered against Rajasthan Royals. CSK have not got good starts by Shane Watson and Murali Vijay.

CSK’s next match is against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on October 2. With a six-day break before that game, CSK are likely to see the return of Rayudu.