Fifteen years of coaching Chennai Super Kings has instilled in Stephen Fleming a sense of equanimity. Even in the darkest of hours, he remains unflustered and lets pragmatism rein over emotions. After suffering the third defeat of the season, which is swiftly unravelling, Fleming insisted that transitions take time and stressed on the wealth of the young talent at the team’s disposal. “I think we’ve got some really good talent. This is, there’s five or six new players that have started this season, but we think they are of high value moving forward,” he reiterated.
Questions swirled on auction tactics, on the over-emphasis on young Indians and the jettisoning of seasoned personnel. Lungi Ngidi for instance. The team acquired Uttar Pradesh all-rounder Prashant Veer and Rajasthan wicket-keeper Kartik Sharma for a combined Rs 28.4 crore, that is almost 70 percent of their auction purse. Fleming reasoned: “As we reviewed last season, we had to spend a lot of money on Indian talent, so as to regenerate the franchise and create a foundation moving forward.”
“We’d lost some key players in terms of creating a core, whether it be an Indian batting group or just an Indian group, so there was money spent on the future there, which has been well-documented.” Traditionally, CSK have relied on.a well-knit core of domestic batsmen, Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay, Ambati Rayudu and Kedar Jadhav but to name a few, but they have been sufficiently experienced when the franchise purchased them, unlike Prashant Veer.
To a question later in the interaction, he offered a clearer logic behind acquiring uncapped Indian players. “It is becoming difficult as teams bundle (uncapped) players. So that’s one of the challenges. But we are constantly looking at where the game is going next and trying to secure a player that we think will be the next big thing, or where the game will go.”
Although the batsmen have not clicked in unison, more concerning is CSK’s lacklustre bowling. In two of the three games, they compiled 200-plus totals. They could not defend 209 against Punjab Kings and RCB looted them for 250. Apart from Khaleel Ahmed, none have managed to keep their economy rate under 10 an over. The death bowling was so haphazard that RCB pulverised 97 runs in the last five overs. Fleming, though, deflected the blame on the Impact Sub rule, chorusing a grievance of several coaching counterparts of his. “Bowling is under pressure in the IPL, especially with the impact rule. You’re seeing players who are taking the game on, and their skill set is very high.
“So, look, all bowling attacks are under pressure. We need to execute better. There’s no doubt about it. But there’s a lot of pressure on bowling units, especially in good conditions,” he added.
He praised/bemoaned (with his uniform tone it was difficult to discern what he meant) the RCB batters, and the courage of new-age batters in general. “They’re full of skill and innovation, and it’s the modern game. Going back to the bowling, it’s easy to criticise the bowling, but they’re under a huge amount of pressure on good wickets to shut down these types of players,” he observed.
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But he was always going to return to the Impact Player rule. “You’ve got no fear because you’ve got an extra player, and what’s happened is players have developed an attitude where they can just take on anything. So, look, it’s very difficult when there’s no assistance, and you’re going to get cameos and performances like this when conditions are so good,” he said.
He returned to the rule in the end too. “I am not sure how much longer it’s here, or if it’s here to stay, but that certainly changes the dynamic of cricket and probably sways it a little bit towards batting power,” he said.
“So again, you say, how long is the impact player rule here? Will all-rounders come back into the game, or will it continue to be a game of dashers? I don’t know. I’d like to see the balance between bat and ball a little bit more,” he opined.
Sanju will come good
Sanju Samson’s trilogy of single-digits scores has not vexed Fleming. “He’s not going to score every time. It’s just T20 cricket. He nicked one today, but he’s in good form. He’s training well, and when he gets going, he’s often a match winner and wins games.
