CHENNAI: Stephen Fleming was visibly disappointed after Chennai Super Kings lost against Mumbai Indians on Friday night. What hurt the coach more than the abject surrender was the repetition of mistakes by his players. The former New Zealand captain also admitted missing the calming influence of MS Dhoni, who skipped the match due to fever.
“If we have situations not going our way, we should have the experience of dealing with it, which we haven’t at the moment. What concerns me is the fact that we are repeating mistakes. That we are still top of the table is a testament to bowlers and individual performances,’’ opined Fleming. The coach added that on the field, things are not the same for Chennai without Dhoni. Other than his calm presence, the skipper is indispensable for his ability with the bat and reading of situations. “Dhoni is a great leader and player. He’s been a constant for us for so many years. You just get into the rhythm while having him there. When you take a leader like that out, there are going to be some holes to fill. It’s not that we’re not trying to fill it. It’s just that the hole is quite big. It takes a big effort to lift the team up when your best player is not available.”
To know how important Dhoni is to his team, a glance at stats should suffice. This season, he has missed two games. Chennai have lost both. “The two games we played when Dhoni was not available, the performances have been well below par. There is comfort when he is there.”
Chennai’s loss to Mumbai was due to the fact that there was hardly any partnerships going and also wickets fell at regular intervals.
In the defeat against Mumbai, Murali Vijay was the only batsman to show some pluck and score some runs. It was his first match this season. Will he get more opportunities? Going by what Fleming said, Vijay’s chances are not very high.
“Consistency in selection has given us fruits. (Shane) Watson is a good example. Vijay has been on the fringes throughout the tournament and we had discussed opportunities for him. Friday was an opportunity for him. He batted well but he also had a chance to win the game for the team. We will back our international players as much as we can and you’ll have to earn your place in this team.”