Chennai Super Kings (CSK) head coach Stephen Fleming said his team lost the crucial face-off with Mumbai Indians (MI) on Friday (October 23) in a "terrible powerplay" where they had half their side back in the pavilion after being put into bat on losing the toss.
MI's renowned quicks Jasprit Bumrah (2/25) and Trent Boult (4/18) ran through CSK's top six and it took a gutsy half-century from all-rounder Sam Curran (52) to take them past the 100-run mark (114/9 in 20 overs).
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Later, none of the CSK bowlers could survive the onslaught once MI openers Quinton de Kock (46*) and Ishan Kishan (68*) got going. The opening duo breezed past the 115-run target inside just 12.2 overs.
Fleming feels the all-important contest was over for his team the moment they found themselves 21/5 in the powerplay, adding that the only option left was to try and bat the rest of the overs in hope to give themselves half a chance.
"We were pretty stunned really. It was a terrible Powerplay. To lose wickets so quickly, so frequently, the game was almost over in the Powerplay," said Fleming during the post-match press conference, as quoted by ANI.
"So the message during the timeout was to have some runs on the board to give us half a chance in the game as our bowling was strong due to overseas players," added the coach after his team's ten-wicket mauling.
CSK, usually averse to chopping and changing their line-up, made tweaks against MI, bringing in Ruturaj Gaikwad, Imran Tahir and N Jagadeesan in place of Shane Watson, Dwayne Bravo (injured) and Kedar Jadhav.
Fleming said with the campaign nearing a fateful end, the thought was to give Tahir a go and see if he could inspire some magic.
"The pitches are becoming a little more difficult at times and our opening stands have been a little bit of mix. So the plan was to be positive and the reason why Ruturaj Gaikwad was there because we wanted to introduce Tahir to have some balance."
"Our spin bowling has (been) little bit ineffective. So when you have one of the T20 spinners (Tahir), we were keen to play him but we had a poor batting display and it sums up our tournament. Everything we have tried has been opposite," Fleming added.
With eight defeats in eleven outings, CSK are set for their first league-stage elimination in the history of IPL.
The team next lock horns with in-form Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Dubai on Sunday (October 25).
