Chennai Super Kings (CSK) head coach Stephen Fleming has backed the team’s move to make Shivam Dube bowl the match-turning 19th over at the expense of spinners against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the 7th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 on March 31.
With Lucknow Super Giants needing 34 runs from 12 balls, Evin Lewis and Ayush Badoni smashed Dube for 25 runs, bringing the equation down to 9 from the last over at the Brabourne Stadium to win the match by 6 wickets against Chennai Super Kings on Thursday.
After CSK’s second straight defeat in the ongoing IPL 2022, the head coach compared the dew on the ground to the Niagara Falls, and backed their move to hand the ball to Dube in the 19th over.
Fleming said at the virtual post-match press conference: “If you’d looked earlier on, spinning options were taken out of play because it was like Niagara Falls in terms of the wetness and they (LSG) played well.”
He further added, “So it was very hard to, one, grip the ball for a spinner and, two, to be effective. So early on, we were one over short but they played well. We always knew we had to pick up an over somewhere — we were hoping to be able to create enough of a run-rate towards the end that we could squeeze someone in.”
While the skipper Ravindra Jadeja went for 21 runs in his two overs, Moeen Ali conceded 14 runs in his one over, forcing CSK to hand the ball to Dube against LSG.
Fleming further added, “Whether that was another spinner, the decision was made in the middle to use Dube, and they counted it well. So we always knew that one over was going to be pivotal and I think they did as well, but they played it very well.”
Hailing Tushar Deshpande and Mukesh Choudhary, Fleming said: “We’ve got some young guys — playing Mukesh for the first time, Deshpande has played a little bit before. But I thought it was really honest. It’s really tough out there, you can’t appreciate how wet that ball is and the outfield is.”
He added, “So it’s very difficult to get any aggressive play, I think we were bowling defensively from about 10 overs onwards. I thought they hung in really well, started really well in tough conditions.”
On the unavailability of Deepak Chahar, Chris Jordan, and Adam Milne, the CSK head coach said: “Adam Milne has had some treatment; he’s hopefully not too far away. Chris Jordan, also, hopefully not too far away, and of course Deepak Chahar. So we are a bit of resource down with our fast bowling, but at some stage, all teams will find they are a little bit skinny in some areas.”
On the total of 210 against LSG, Fleming: “We thought it was about par, and that’s the nature of the conditions at the moment — they very much favor the team batting second. We did well to get to 210, but we were always realistic that it was going to get harder as the night went on.”
He concluded, “So we worked very hard to stay in the game, to be honest. Defensively, I thought we were great. After about 10 overs, we just knuckled down and I thought we were fantastic to stay in the game. But it’s pretty hard fielding second at the moment.”
(With PTI Inputs)
