NEWS
Follow UsChennai Super Kings suffered a six-wicket defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders in an evening encounter at home on Sunday, May 14, to put their top-two spot in the points table in jeopardy.
MS Dhoni-led outfit need to win their last game against Delhi Capitals to qualify for the playoffs, but they will still not be guaranteed a top-two finish.
The home team won the toss and elected to bat first on a sluggish surface. However, they were restricted to 144/6 in their 20 overs courtesy off some high-quality bowling from Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy.
Analysing the game in the post-match press conference, Stephen Fleming felt the team did not access the conditions well early in the innings. "I am not sure we got the conditions right. Last game, it turned and got considerably harder to bat. This one, actually, had a spongy bounce to start and then just lost a bit of sting as the game went on."
"Very difficult to try and work out what the surface is going to do with the dew. I have said it the whole way through, we are still learning about these new conditions," he said.
The former Kiwi skipper also heaped praises on the Knight Riders' spin duo and admitted they made it tougher for Chennai to score runs in the middle overs.
"It was excellent bowling from them. You have two of the best with Narine and Chakravarthy, and we didn't respond well enough. We gave our wickets throughout the innings, maybe looking to get more of a score than we needed," Fleming said.
"A tough day, we struggled to get a good score on the board. We had an outside chance if the conditions stayed the same, but I just felt it got better with the dew and the left-handers played really well," he added.
The 50-year-old also rued the fact that Chennai Super Kings were unable to pick Chakaravarthy in the IPL auction despite being a net bowler with the team for numerous years.
Punjab Kings acquired his services for INR 8.4 Crores in the 2019 auction before releasing him a year later when the Knight Riders picked him in 2020.
"It still hurts not being able to buy him at the auction. He tortured us in the nets for a number of years, but with the auction and the way it is, we couldn't retain him," Fleming said.
"And the thing is, with the Tamil Nadu players all around the different teams, they knew about him as well, and we were unable to keep him a secret."
"We were very excited by him as a talent when he bowled against us in the nets, and we would have loved him. He went for a big price that first year."
"He went off a little bit, and now he has come back, and he bowled really well today. He is a weapon, and with Narine, they are a potent combo and coming in conditions like this, they excel," he concluded.
Chennai Super Kings face Delhi Capitals in a must-win afternoon encounter on Saturday, May 20, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.
