It’s fair to say that this team may have run out of power: Fleming

There was a sense of grim finality in MS Dhoni’s tone as he admitted that this season the Chennai Super Kings “weren’t really there” after another morale-sapping performance. However, it must be said that this is not the time to praise this highly successful franchise, despite all the cuts and bruises they have suffered this season.

But the collective mood and belief in the group seem to suggest otherwise. “It’s fair to say looking at the table now that this team may have run out of energy,” head coach Stephen Fleming said in the post-game presentation, revealing that morale in the locker room was alarmingly low.

“If you look at the three-year cycle, we won the first year; we lost the last ball last year; and we always thought that the third year with an aging team would be difficult. And Dubai [UAE] it has challenged us with a new set of requirements, “he said.

It’s been a season of many more failures than hits for CSK, but the epicenter of this desperate sentiment can be traced back to how they have repeatedly failed in boss games through their control over conditions.

It is not the first time this season, on Monday, Dhoni’s understanding of what could happen on a field did not materialize. He had seen enough in Sunday’s 3:30 pm game between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders to believe that Abu Dhabi’s used surface would get slower and therefore harder to hit in the second inning. An unwanted surprise awaited him.

The Rajasthan Royals seized the opportunity to go bowling first and launched a classic CSK move, which they themselves have sighed but failed to pull off all season. Once Jofra Archer shattered the higher order early on, RR unleashed his doll duo Rahul Tewatia and Shreyas Gopal to hamper CSK in the middle. The pair threw seven consecutive overs together and conceded just 28 runs. That wiped out any supply of momentum heading into the finals, and CSK dragged its feet to a massively below-average total of 125/5.

Deepak Chahar and Josh Hazlewood revived the seemingly dead game by reducing RR to 31/3 on PowerPlay. But Dhoni caused a lot of intrigue by continuing to rely on his fast pitchers even in the intermissions. By the time CSK leggie Piyush Chawla made it to bowling, RR was just 46 from two massive points. As it turned out, the second-inning pitch was out of “bite”.

“There was a bit for fast players. The reason I threw Jadeja was to see how much [the ball] was stopping [on the pitch]. But it didn’t really stop, like it did in the first few innings. Then the option was to go with seamers and then try spinners when the ball ages a bit. I felt like in the second inning it got a little better. [to bat]. I don’t think the spinners got the same kind of bite as their spinners in the first inning, “Dhoni said.

What has also been emblematic of the end of a cycle at CSK is that Dhoni’s continued commitment to side with experience has not yielded the usual results. Even when CSK chained defeats, there was always a reluctance to replace the old guard. After Monday’s game, Dhoni only regained his strong sense of experience in the format, when he said: “There were some opportunities for the youngsters and maybe we didn’t see the kind of spark they could have given us to say.” ok push [out] the seasoned guy and maybe make some room for them [youngsters]. ”

When he later spoke about giving them chances in the remaining games this season, the timeless pragmatist revealed that perhaps, deep in his heart, he believes the curtains have already drawn the curtain on CSK’s season.

“I think there is an external possibility that we can pass, but when you trust other results and a change of form for your own team, it is very difficult to be optimistic and positive,” said Fleming, echoing the sentiments of his employer. .

However, CSK’s fate could still be in his own hands. They can still bring their win count to seven, which is one more than the amount of SRH he needed to sneak into the playoffs last season, and as many as the fourth-ranked RR had in 2018.

There is still room for maneuver to recover from the situation with their backs to the wall they are in. But from the evidence of his introspective gestures after one of his worst losses of the season, it seems his proverbial white flag is raised. and fluttering.