IPL 2020: Stephen Fleming Slams Batsmen After MS Dhoni & Co.'s Dismal Performance Against KKR
Published - 08 Oct 2020, 10:23 AM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:35 AM
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Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming has come down hard on the batsmen after their dismal performance in the 10-run defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders on Monday. The three-time champions were looking set to register their second win on the trot before a miserable performance from their faltering middle-order undid all of the good work put in by the bowlers and the top-order batsmen.
Having posted 90 for 1 at the half-way stage, CSK needed only 78 in the last 10. However, for a period of 9.3 overs from thereon, they managed only 53 runs. Ravindra Jadeja ended the match by hitting 6, 4 and 4 on the final three balls but it was not enough.
From the 11th to the 19th over, CSK managed to score more than six runs in an over just once when they collected 15 runs in the 16th over bowled by Sunil Narine. MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav were the worst performers with the bat. Both Dhoni and Jadhav faced 12 deliveries each and managed 11 and only 7 respectively.
‘We should put it away’:
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Stephen Fleming did not mince his words as he said CSK’s experienced batting should put away games like these. He was not at all happy with the way none of the set batsmen batted for long as the CSK coach expressed his disappointment that the team let the game slip.
“The performances like today, with the experience we’ve got, we should put it away,” Stephen Fleming said after the game. “Ideally, you want one batsman to bat through. If you give an opening to an IPL team, they’ve got quality players to take it. Today with Narine holding overs back, it made it very difficult in the end.
“You are looking at players going on and making 75 or more and continue that partnership for five more overs, the game would have been a lot more different. KKR hung in there and put pressure on us. We couldn’t accelerate in the end. We are disappointed that we let it slip.”
