CHENNAI: Even as Punjab Kings beat Chennai Super Kings by seven wickets to get to eight points, the home team’s position in the points table hasn’t changed. Super Kings are still in the top four (it could change if Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Rajasthan Royals), but they have bigger things to worry about after the loss against Punjab.
While dew factor once again played its part as Chennai tried to defend 162 on a humid evening at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, what also dented CSK hopes of a win was Deepak Chahar walking off after just bowling two balls. Plus the absence of Matheesha Pathirana due to a niggle and Tushar Deshpande due to a flu. Although Richard Gleeson had a good debut, CSK bowling has a lot to worry about. “Chahar doesn’t look good.
The initial feeling wasn’t good, now we’re hoping for positive news when the physio and doctor have a look. Sri Lankan boys (Theekshana, Pathirana) are off for their visas, we’re hoping that their process is smooth and we get them back for the next game up north. Gleeson was good, and was one of the positives. Losing Mustafizur (after the next game) is a blow, there is a lot going on, isn’t it? Tushar has got a bit of flu going on, so we missed him on Wednesday. So we had to make some changes, but that’s part of it. We have got resources, they just haven’t got game time to be comfortable with their roles,” Fleming said after the loss.
One of the talking points of the game was the shuffle in the CSK batting order with Shivam Dube coming in at No 3 and Ravindra Jadeja at No 4. “Dube was a big part of that (six-hitting) and losing him today with their spinners was a great wicket for them (Punjab). In terms of a left-arm spinner and a leg-spinner, it was a great matchup for Dube.
We have seen him do really well this season but they won that one nicely and that then created pressure on our ability to continue to hit sixes and it was tough. Another thing is that it is a biggish ground, so if there is any kind of assistance, it’s hard square-wise to get boundaries. And they bowled well, they protected it well. Made it difficult for us,” pointed out the former New Zealand captain.
“We have spoken about the unpredictability of wickets (at Chepauk). Today the first ball bounced and hit Jinks (Rahane) in the helmet. Just trying to get a gauge on how it will play. Unfortunately we’re batting first a lot, which makes it difficult to gauge what a competitive score is. We got a couple of 200s, so that was on the mind today but it was a bit sticky.
What was a good start in the first six overs then became difficult. We tried with the lefties, obviously Dube and then Jadeja was also an aggressive role which didn’t work, and Sameer Rizvi as well. We just couldn’t get anything through the middle,” he added.