It’s not often that former New Zealand captain and current Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming lose his cool, but such has been the year 2020 and CSK’s performance in this IPL so far that all he needed was a question about Kedar Jadhav’s batting order for Fleming. lose its composer, even for a short period of time.
The CSK head coach seemed puzzled and upset by those who questioned the thought process behind sending Kedar Jadhav ahead of Mahendra Singh Dhoni in their Indian Premier League match against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
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CSK lost by seven runs to the team led by David Warner on Friday for their third straight loss in the current edition of the lucrative league.
“Really? Is it a question?” asked an irate Fleming at the post-game press conference.
“He (Jadhav) is our number four, Dhoni, mainly, he is a middle to backend player, Kedar Jadhav is our number four, he plays a double role, if we start well, he could go down and let Dhoni go up.
“If you lose early grounds, then your number four hitter comes in.”
Jadhav faced 10 balls in his three runs. The middle-order right-handed hitter has been struggling to push the limits in this IPL. He went up against RR and DC, but missed the big shots when it mattered most.
Fleming, however, admitted that both Jadhav and Shane Watson will be under pressure to produce the products for CSK.
Both Watson and Jadhav are looking for substantial contributions. Shane can light the fuse at any time and with Kedhar it’s the same. “
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After Jadhav’s firing, Dhoni and Jadeja took some time to stabilize the innings before going for the big shots in the chase of CSK. Fleming said the seasoned couple had to take time out.
“We were in trouble in the middle (part of the innings) and MS (Dhoni) and Jaddu had to take time. They got us pretty close, but they probably wanted to be a little more productive in the middle.
“Obviously when you have to deal with Rashid Khan overs, it’s also a big challenge. Jaddu’s momentum towards the end was encouraging, ”he added.
“It’s just our fourth game so it’s pretty early in our form cycle, but there’s no question there’s pressure and they’ll feel it more than I’m talking about.”
He also said that CSK was uneven with what they were doing, adding that in the last four SRH overs they were very good.
“The last four overs in particular were very good and we were uneven. And we lacked a bit of confidence on the field. “So there are little things all over the place, there are probably at least a dozen races that we give up on just knockdowns or bad movement. In a close competition, that is going to cost us and we know it.
“We have to do well, we have to have a little confidence and a little pace of play and guys in shape, and that can change pretty quickly. But also, if you don’t address them, we’ll just walk away, ”Fleming added.
(With PTI inputs)
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