CHENNAI: Former New Zealand captain and Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming admitted that his side was a bit rusty and failed to adapt to the neutral conditions in Mumbai against Delhi Capitals in their season opener.
Despite posting a challenging 188, they were handed out a seven-wicket defeat by Delhi Capitals. Delhi openers Prithvi Shaw (72) and Shikhar Dhawan (85) stitched a 138-run opening stand and sealed the fate of CSK. However Fleming ebelieved that his team could bounce back and praised Suresh Raina who made a valuable half-century. “We will learn a lot from being here (Mumbai) for another four games.
But don’t underestimate how much it takes to change the philosophy of a side. We are very much a Chennai-based side,” said Fleming. “We saw Mumbai struggle to a degree in Chennai the other night. They have got a challenge on how to change their tactics in Chennai and our tactics have to be a little bit better with the ball in Mumbai.
So, it’s one of the quirks of this competition in this Covid-19 age and we just have to find a way. It’s going to be high-scoring games in Mumbai and toss might play a crucial role.” On Raina, he called it an ‘outstanding innings’. “It’s really good, considering the cricket and where he has come from. It was an outstanding innings. We put Moeen Ali up as an aggressor and also used Suresh’s aggressive role to get to play some cricket and find some form. But after playing 2-3 shots, he (Raina) really got going.
It’s a really positive sign for us. I liked the way we turned it on after losing wickets when the wicket was tacky. We just weren’t able to create chances with the ball, which is really disappointing,” observed Fleming. The former New Zealand opener informed that Lungi Ngidi and Jason Behrendorff would not be available for his team in the next game against Punjab Kings. CSK will next meet Punjab Kings on April 16.
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