CSK were at the receiving end of dubious on-field umpiring calls at the start of their innings.
Owing to a short-circuit at the Wankhede Stadium for 10 balls during the start of the innings, the DRS couldn’t be used and it cost CSK dearly as they were at the receiving end of dubious on-field umpiring calls.
The controversy erupted when Devon Conway was given out LBW with Daniel Sams trapping him in front of the wicket by an inswinger on the second delivery of CSK’s innings. Conway wanted to take a review but was told that there was no DRS available and a perplexed opener walked back to the pavilion.
To rub salt on the wounds, the replays showed that in all probability the ball would have missed the leg-stump and Conway would have survived had the DRS been available.
In the second over of CSK’s innings, Robin Uthappa too got out LBW to Jasprit Bumrah in what looked like a 50-50 call.
“It was a little bit unlucky that it happened at that time,” Fleming said at the post-match press conference.
“We were a little disappointed, but that’s still part of the game, isn’t it? It sort of set off a chain of events that were not in our favour, but we should be better than that. It certainly wasn’t a great start.”
It was an important match for CSK to remain in the contention for the IPL 2022 playoffs but the defending champions failed to rise to the occasion, getting bowled out for a paltry 97 in just 16 overs and eventually suffering a five-wicket thrashing at the hands of MI.
Although disappointed, the coach counted on the positives from this year’s campaign.
“There were really some positive signs. The new ball bowling of Mukesh (Chaudhary) and Simarjeet (Singh) was outstanding. We have been developing Mukesh all throughout the season so it’s good for him to be confident of bowling a spell like that.
“They have made some gains so that’s a positive with Deepak Chahar coming back into the side, we have some good new ball options. We are really positive about the pairing going forward,” he said.
“We haven’t been as good as we need to be, we are trying to find some pieces as we move forward.”
Out of the play-off race, the Super Kings will now test their bench strength in the remaining games.
“Now that we are out of the competition, we have got the opportunity to play some other guys in the last 2 games and hopefully find something there as well,” Fleming said.
“We will finish looking for positives and opportunities for next season. We are not going to turn too much over but we do need to improve in some areas,” he concluded.
Chennai Super Kings will take on table-toppers Gujarat Titans in their next match on May 15.
(With PTI inputs)