Many deemed that CSK were overconfident by dropping Mike Hussey and picking Anirudha. Dhoni has been criticised for opening the bowling with Jadeja and also not giving Albie a bowl.
But Stephen Fleming, coach of CSK said that he is not the person to advise Dhoni what to do on the field. He believed that Pune’s aggression with Finch in good flow was the reason for CSK’s failure.
“We were not complacent. The game against Bangalore took a lot out of us emotionally and physically.”
Regarding the team changes,“We haven’t been overtly happy with our start. So we promoted Anirudha for an aggressive start”
Regarding Dhoni’s bowling rotations, Fleming said that it was very much his gut feel on the day. Albie may not have been used because Dhoni felt the combination was right. He said, “We were just poor. Fatigue is not the reason. Pune was the side that was determined win right from ball one”
Asked whether it was right to make changes when the team was slowly gelling as a unit, Fleming said,”You look at the best side for the day. Pune doesn’t have a Morkel or Steyn, so we looked at an aggressive start”