Chennai Super Kings (CSK) head coach Stephen Fleming provided an update on his team's premier all-rounder Dwayne Bravo after the West Indian missed the opening encounter of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 this Saturday (September 19).
Fleming confirmed Bravo couldn't be part of the crucial win over defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) due to the knee injury he is carrying from the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and is set to miss another couple of games in IPL 2020.
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"Dwayne Bravo is out for a couple of games," said Fleming in the post-match press conference, as quoted by PTI.
Bravo's like-for-like replacement, Englishman Sam Curran, however, didn't let the MS Dhoni-led side miss the veteran cricketer's services.
Curran bowled an economic four-over spell of 1/28 and played a fine cameo of 18 runs in just six deliveries to help CSK win by five wickets.
"Curran’s performance was terrific," said Fleming, who also showered praise on Indian batsman Ambati Rayudu for his fantastic knock (71 off 48 balls) that made CSK's task of chasing down MI's 162/9 a lot more comfortable in the second half.
“Rayudu has been nothing short of fantastic. He has been pretty emotional and played a great knock," the coach said.
Apart from Rayudu, Faf du Plessis (58*) also struck a fine half-century and saw his team through at the end.
With the dew leaving MI's spinners ineffective during the run-chase, their Australian quick James Pattinson said the team had that factor in mind and wanted to bowl first.
“We were looking to bowl first, with the temperature being high at night time the ground does get a bit wet. So, there is an advantage in bowling first. Both the teams were looking to bowl first," said Pattinson.
"There’s little bit of wetness around the grass. It skidded on a little bit. It was a good wicket overall."
In the first half, Mumbai batsmen seemed to have overplayed in their minds a par score for the conditions, as they kept going for the big shot and lost wickets and momentum in the process.
The most important of them being Keiron Pollard (18), who could've pushed the game away from CSK by taking the score near the 180-mark.
“I think between him (Pollard) and the two Pandya brothers, it’s just going to float at number 5, 6 and 7 depending on the situation of the game. I’m sure he’ll (Pollard) bat higher at some stage, depending on the situation in the game," said Pattinson, who bowled four overs for 27 runs and picked up a wicket.
