Chennai Super Kings (CSK) head coach Stephen Fleming admitted his team is struggling for form and consistency, as well as lacking clarity, after their successive defeats following the win over Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 opener last week.
Having lost to Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Sharjah by 16 runs, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's team suffered a heavier, 44-run defeat to Delhi Capitals (DC) in Dubai this Friday (September 25).
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Fleming said his team has certainly missed their key players, currently injured Ambati Rayudu and Dwayne Bravo, also regular No.3 Suresh Raina, who pulled out of the tournament due to personal reasons.
"Well, we're a bit muddled at the moment. We're missing some key players, and we're trying to find a balance that allows us to be competitive. We're looking to develop a personality based on the wickets that we're facing," said Fleming at the post-match press conference, as quoted by PTI.
"Each wicket has been completely different, and our batting is without Rayudu, (Suresh) Raina etc. We're trying to find a way or a combination and how to use players. We've learned a massive amount over three days," he added.
In the win over MI, Dhoni played match-ups quite well by demoting himself and Kedar Jadhav, and sending in Sam Curran, Ravindra Jadeja to tackle the incoming angle of wrist-spinner Rahul Chahar and left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya.
However, the same went missing in the loss versus DC despite their tweakers Amit Mishra and Akshar Patel offering the same mode of attack.
CSK allowed Mishra, Patel to go through their overs economically and pile on the pressure in the difficult chase of 176. They could only manage 131/7 in response.
"We have almost got too many batting options at the moment, so that's why I say we were a little bit muddled with what we're sending out, so we just need to be a little bit clearer with what we're doing, and perhaps what we're missing is a bigger contribution at the top," said Fleming.
"It's a lot of question marks and a lot of soul-searching from coaching point of view and strategy point of view, but we're trying to find combinations where we get the best players at right times. To keep shunting the order all over the place is not really our style, but we've had a go at it and we'll review how it's gone."
In order to ensure their struggling batting wasn't left with too much ground to cover, CSK needed spinners Jadeja and Piyush Chawla to stand-up, but they went expensive once again.
"Yeah, it's an area of concern, because it's been such a strength for CSK, and you've got to think that the style of play that we've developed over the last 12 years is heavily based on spin. So what we're trying to do is find a different personality," said Fleming.
"Spin still plays a part, and we've played on three different grounds, so each game has been different conditions. We're struggling to adjust to find the pace and the style to bowl through the middle, and that, in the last two games in particular, has been an area where we haven't done so well. So from a strength to an area of concern, we need to rectify that."
"All bets are on the table at the moment as we try to find a way. We are looking forward to playing a number of games here (in Dubai), we were interested in how this pitch played, and get conditions right so we can get right combination," he added.
The coach said dew is one uncontrollable factor that has plagued his team as well.
"We did (consider batting first) but what we can't anticipate is the dew. We trained across the road the other day and it was soaking wet and it has a huge impact in second innings. Tonight, it was absolutely none so it's a little bit of hit and miss at the moment."
"The last game we played in Sharjah was one of the wetter surfaces we've been involved in. We're guessing a little bit around conditions. We are the guinea pigs in terms of playing first games on two venues," he signed off.
CSK next play Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on October 2nd in Dubai.
