MS Dhoni's Absence Quite A Big Void, Says Stephen Fleming

Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming admitted that the defending champions struggled to compete in the absence of MS Dhoni this season. Dhoni missed the game against Mumbai Indians on Friday due to fever and the Super Kings fared poorly.  This is not the first time, Super Kings has struggled in absence of Dhoni. Earlier this season, they had managed just 132 against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

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In their latest outing, they were all out for just 109 while chasing a modest 156.  While Murali Vijay, playing his first game this season, did well to score 38, none of the other top six batsmen delivered. In fact, barring Vijay, all the other five of the top six failed to reach even the double-digit mark. At one stage, it was looking like they would not even reach the 100-run mark before Dwayne Bravo and Mitchell Santner played fine cameos to help the team cross the 100-run mark. It was, however, not enough for the Super Kings to lose their first home game this season and score their lowest total in Chennai.

.@mipaltan do the double over arch rivals CSK to win by 46 runs at Chepauk ?#CSKvMI #VIVOIPL pic.twitter.com/aDbm5nlCBp

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 26, 2019

Speaking at the end of the crushing 46-run loss, Stephen Fleming admitted that replacing Dhoni is a ‘quite big’

“I think you know the answer to that. He is a great leader and a great player. He’s been a constant for us for so many years. You just get into the rhythm while having him there. When you take a leader like that out, there are going to be some holes to fill. It’s not that we’re not trying to fill it. It’s just that the hole is quite big,” Stephen Fleming said on Friday.

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“It takes a mammoth effort to lift the team up when you have one of the best player who is unavailable. It’s probably psychological as well. Though we’re good enough to do that… the two games we have played without him, the performances have been well-below par from a team perspective as well as an individual perspective,” he added,

Dhoni is the highest run-scorer for Super Kings this season. He has so far scored 314 runs in 10 games at an average of over 104.

Fleming, meanwhile, went on to defend the other batsmen, saying that the players do not feel insecure in Dhoni’s absence.

“I don’t think so (batsmen insecure in Dhoni’s absence). There’s a comfort when he’s there. He was there (batting) in the last game. The players are good enough and have enough experience to do it themselves,” he said.

The Super Kings, nonetheless, are still at the top of the points table with 8 wins from 12 games. They will next face Delhi Capitals in Chennai on May 1.