Stephen Fleming directly blames Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni for CSK's loss to SRH

Reigning Indian Premier League champions Chennai Super Kings were handed their 2nd consecutive loss of the 2024 edition as the Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated them by 6 wickets last night.

CSK head coach Stephen Fleming, while speaking to the press reporters after the match, gave some of the blame to his batters for not stretching their score to 180+ despite having the platform.

The visitors were given a decent start by Ruturaj Gaikwad and Rachin Ravindra but the main problem was that SRH's bowling unit kept taking wickets at regular intervals.

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After Ruturaj and Ravindra's departure, number 3 and 4 batters Ajinkya Rahane and Shivam Dube tried to steady the ship but they weren't able to last until the end.

Another big mistake that the CSK management led by Stephen Fleming made, was the fact that they sent out-of-form all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja in at number 5 instead of some power hitters like Moeen Ali and Daryl Mitchell. Jadeja played very slowly during his innings and that was what cost them the game eventually.

Hyderabad bowlers had a fantastic last 5 overs that well and truly changed the complexion of the game and restricted CSK from getting to their supposed target of 180+.

Stephen Fleming was extremely critical about the way his batters played and he didn't hold back with his thoughts during the post-match press conference at the Rajiv Gandhi stadium.

Stephen Fleming hails SRH bowlers for restricting CSK batters towards the end

When asked to shed light on his team's performance with the bat, Stephen Fleming claimed that the batters weren't able to build on the start they got off to in the first 10 overs.

Fleming felt that CSK was in a good situation early on and could have reached 180-190 but the Kiwi then gave credit to the way SRH bowled in the final 5-6 overs.

"I think the first 10 overs we were in a good position I thought. It might would have been a high-scoring game but we felt it was on the slower side. But the last 5 overs in particular, you'd have to give credits to the way they bowled."

"It turned the game on and trying to push on and get to that 180-190, we just ran into the ground, it's very difficult. So maybe in hindsight, you'd maybe want to pile down a little bit and knock it into the ground but we still thought 180-190 was a possible score given our position so sometimes you have to say well bowled (to the opposition)."- Stephen Fleming told reporters in the Rajiv Gandhi stadium.

Stephen Fleming slams CSK bowlers for poor execution

All that CSK left in front of Hyderabad's dangerous batting line-up was just 166 and to defend that, the visiting bowling unit should have done well in the powerplay overs.

However, Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head did a lot of damage early on in the innings and it would set the tone for other batters to come in and guide them to the victory.

In that regard, Stephen Fleming slammed his bowlers for their poor execution and inability to hit the right line lengths for a certain period.

"I think it was tough to stop them, we tried the spinners it didn't work. It was just a case of getting to the right areas for a period of time and we didn't do that at all and it was partly because of the pressure from their batting and partly because of the lack of execution from us, we didn't create any pressure in the first 6."- Stephen Fleming concluded.