IPL 2022: We Suffered From Catastrophic Success – CSK Head Coach Stephen Fleming

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) head coach Stephen Fleming said that new players in the team need their space to acclimatize to the tournament.

CSK ended their IPL 2022 campaign on Friday (May 20) with a five-wicket defeat to Rajasthan Royals at the Brabourne stadium. CSK lost 10 games this season and finished with eight points at the ninth place on the table.

New players can take a little bit of time: Stephen Fleming

CSK had a few new players, especially their bowling department comprised of young players like Mukesh Choudhary, Simarjeet Singh, Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana, Matheesha Pathirana and Prashant Solanki.

Some of the above players played just one or two games for CSK in the later stage of the tournament.

Fleming said they went through catastrophic success and the new players will take time to fit in the team.

“When you start a new cycle, when you have a number of new players. It can be testing. We suffered from catastrophic success,” Fleming said in the post-match press conference on Friday.

“So just trying to play the same way and continue on for my last four years which were very successful is a real challenge. So dropping back and understanding what new players can do can take a little bit of time,” he added.

What we didn’t have was a couple of form players: Stephen Fleming

CSK lost the services of pace bowler Deepak Chahar owing to multiple injuries in the middle of the tournament.

Chahar, who was the expensive pick of the four-time IPL winners in the auction, couldn’t play a single game for them this year.

South African batter Faf du Plessis, who was an integral part of the team for eight seasons, moved to Royal Challengers Bangalore and was appointed as their captain. All-rounder Shardul Thakur went to Delhi Capitals in the auction.

Fleming said losing few players was a major setback for the team but accepted that they had the opportunity to perform better than this.

“What we didn’t have was a couple of form players that got us through those early days. So you get a couple of wins and then you get a little bit of evidence that the team’s on the right track and then the young players get a bit of confidence from the senior players doing well. So that’s the cycle. We had a slow start and we just weren’t able to string enough games together,” Fleming said.

“We had opportunities. There’s no doubt we had opportunities to do better than what we did. But the reality is we weren’t good enough to make the semi-finals this year, and that’s always a catalyst for the next year,” he added.

CSK skipper MS Dhoni confirmed his participation for the next IPL season with the promise to play before CSK fans in Chennai.

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