With 1223 runs in the 2013/14 Ranji Trophy season, Kedar Jadhav was the highest run-scorer, but he has not been able to secure a spot in the Indian Test team primarily due to rigorous challenges from other qualified players as well. Not letting this dishearten him, he decided to alter himself and be more presentable for the Limited Overs Internationals.
 
Jadhav had a good technique and was belligerent when the situation demanded, but was limited in his variety of strokes at the beginning. Sensing this Achilles’ heel, he got into working on enlarging the scope of his hitting and to try and improvise more when on the field.
 
Making his international debut in 2014, it took a while before he produced a scintillating knock and it came against England in early 2017 in the 1st ODI. Coming in to bat at No.6, Jadhav’s 120 (76) was a key fulcrum in India chasing down a target of 351 and he was awarded as the player of the match for the same.
 
Besides this, on multiple occasions, Jadhav has helped India home and has displayed poise under trying circumstances. He is also a handy part-time offbreak bowler whose skills were extensively used by Dhoni to fill in the overs when needed or deliver breakthroughs for the team when regular bowlers were unable to do so.
 
His slow, low bowling also made him a difficult prospect for the batsmen to go after. However, despite these nuances, Jadhav had shortcomings of his own such as being a leisurely fielder and contracting recurring hamstring injuries which only played spoilsport for a permanent spot for him in the team.
 
In the Indian T20 League, Jadhav had a good successful stint with Delhi, being their go-to firepower in the middle order. He was picked up by Bangalore subsequently in 2016 but was let go in 2018, and found a place in Chennai under MS. His most memorable moment in the League has to be the one-leg scoop over fine leg for a six and a four to help Chennai coast home in the 2018 season opener against Mumbai. This, after retiring himself hurt earlier in the same match.
 
He also scored a crucial 81* and along with Dhoni built an unbeaten 141-run partnership against Australia in the 1 st ODI in March 2019 to resuscitate the team to victory.

Kedar Jadhav

The franchises of the Indian Premier League (IPL) were given till January 21 (2021) to finalise the players whom they want to retain and also release. There has been some movement on that front with fates of many players &ndash; Indian and overseas &ndash; already having been sealed. Here&#39;s a look at some of the activities so far:Chennai Super Kings (Purse remaining: INR 22.9 Crore)The big news thus far is that of Suresh Raina&nbsp;being retained by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) despite the fact that he left abruptly in the previous season and as a result, missed all the games for the franchise, according to ESPNcricinfo. After a long lay-off, Raina took part in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Uttar Pradesh, in which he started off with a half-century. Raina is CSK&rsquo;s leading run-getter and has played pivotal roles in them winning three titles.&nbsp;&ldquo;He is one of our best batsmen in the last ten years. He had to miss out last year but he is back now and we are happy with him,&rdquo; a franchise official said.<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2Fc951be5a5e060c058d2f775fa4aa625cd92526ea.jpg" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">The trio of Kedar Jadhav, Piyush Chawla&nbsp;and Murali Vijay&nbsp;have been released from the CSK squad. Chawla was the most expensive buy in the IPL 2020 auction, fetching INR 6.75 crore, but managed just six wickets at an economy of 9.09 in the tournament. Jadhav scored just 62 runs from five innings, while Vijay made a poor 32 runs from three outings. Monu Kumar, who bowled just a couple of overs last season has also been released. Also, Shane Watson&nbsp;will not be a part of the squad as he decided to retire from all forms of the game at the end of IPL 2020.Harbhajan Singh&rsquo;s time with the franchise too seems to have come to an end. The offspinner took to Twitter and wrote, &ldquo;As my contract comes to an end with @ChennaiIPL, playing for this team was a great experience..beautiful memories made &amp;some great friends which I will remember fondly for years to come..Thank you @ChennaiIPL, management, staff and fans for a wonderful 2years.. All the best..&rdquo;Delhi Capitals (Purse remaining: To be confirmed)<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2Fcf552c5e910ba09e3c1fc7276c83b73b797ad614.jpg" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200"> One of Delhi Capitals&rsquo; star performers Marcus Stoinis&nbsp;has been retained by the franchise. He scored 352 runs at 25.14 and with the ball he picked up 13 wickets at an economy rate of 9.53, to help DC make it to their first-ever IPL final. DC are set to part ways with Jason Roy, Sandeep Lamichhane, Tushar Deshpande&nbsp;and Mohit Sharma. Roy pulled out of the previous season due to injury, Lamichhane did not feature in a single game and Mohit picked up a solitary wicket from his only appearance in IPL 2020. Alex Carey, who played just three matches last season too has been released, along with West Indies allrounder Keemo Paul.Hours after retaining Daniel Sams and Harshal Patel, the duo were traded to RCB.Royal Challengers Bangalore (Purse remaining: INR 35.7 Crore)RCB will be without the services of South Africa fast bowler Dale Steyn, who has opted out of the tournament to take some time off. He made this announcement on Twitter earlier this month.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2F65346fa0f2232c824bb2d1762291bd9ca457a677.jpg" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">RCB have retained 12 players. While the fact that they have retained Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Yuzvendra Chahal&nbsp;comes as little surprise, that have shown faith in youngsters like Pawan Deshpande&nbsp;and Shahbaz Ahmed&nbsp;as well. Other than that, Navdeep Saini, Adam Zampa, Josh Philippe,&nbsp;Kane Richardson, Washington Sundar, Devdutt Padikkal&nbsp;and Mohammed Siraj&nbsp;too will feature in the next edition of the IPL. Daniel Sams&nbsp;and Harshal Patel&nbsp;have been traded into the side from DC. Harshal had earlier spent five years from 2012 to 2017 with RCB.&nbsp;<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">IPL Retention Announcement 🔊 Here&rsquo;s the news you&rsquo;ve been waiting for, 12th Man Army. We have retained 12 stars from our 2020 squad. 🌟🤩<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PlayBold?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PlayBold</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IPL2021?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IPL2021</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeAreChallengers?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeAreChallengers</a> <a href="https://t.co/YkzSV3EUjU">pic.twitter.com/YkzSV3EUjU</a>&mdash; Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) <a href="https://twitter.com/RCBTweets/status/1351862066299080704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2021</a></blockquote>Consequently, Gurkeerat Singh, Moeen Ali, Aaron Finch, Chris Morris, Pawan Negi, Shivam Dube, Isuru Udana, Parthiv Patel, Dale Steyn&nbsp;and Umesh Yadav&nbsp;will not be a part of the franchise in IPL 2021.Kolkata Knight Riders (Purse remaining: INR 10.85 Crore)England batsman Tom Banton&nbsp;has been released by KKR. He was bought by the franchise in the IPL 2020 auction for INR 1 crore. He played just two matches for KKR last season and also pulled out of the ongoing Big Bash League (BBL) citing bubble fatigue.<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2F12260fddfbb746a18e405a68d29507009f992e31.jpg" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">KKR have also released offspinner Chris Green&nbsp;from their squad. The Australian played just one game for KKR last season. Also, Siddhesh Lad, Nikhil Naik, and left-arm spinner M Siddharth&nbsp;have been put back into the market.&nbsp;Rajasthan Royals (Purse remaining: INR 34.85 Crore)World&#39;s leading batsman Steven Smith&nbsp;has been released by Rajasthan Royals. Sanju Samson, as a result, has been named RR captain, while Kumar Sangakkara joins the franchise as director of cricket.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Forever a Royal...💗 Some special memories Smudge. 🤝<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RoyalsFamily?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RoyalsFamily</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/stevesmith49?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@stevesmith49</a> <a href="https://t.co/esOSQVtAtP">pic.twitter.com/esOSQVtAtP</a>&mdash; Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) <a href="https://twitter.com/rajasthanroyals/status/1351863648147308546?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2021</a></blockquote><img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2Ff8e3178a75db712aa8d6ba231b39f77bd0e73e30.jpg" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">Under Smith&#39;s leadership, RR finished at the bottom of the IPL 2020 table, having secured 12 points from 14 matches. Smith scored 311 runs at a strike-rate of 131.22 in IPL 2020, which included three fifties from 14 innings.&nbsp;Kings XI Punjab (Purse remaining: INR 53.2 Crore)<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2Fcb7b5d248d521ca1cf077e9b03deb296ce15418a.jpg" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200"> The duo of Glenn Maxwell&nbsp;and Sheldon Cottrell, who had a forgettable IPL 2020 have been shown the door by KXIP. Along with them, K Gowtham, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Jimmy Neesham, Hardus Viljoen&nbsp;and Karun Nair&nbsp;have been released by the franchise.Mumbai Indians (Purse remaining: INR 15.35 Crore)<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2F955bdebecabd651574f79629865864d0aa7e62f9.jpg" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200"> A huge chunk of overseas players have been released by Mumbai Indians, including IPL&#39;s leading wicket-taker Lasith Malinga.&nbsp;<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">🚨 Your 1️⃣8️⃣ retained Champions for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IPL2021?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IPL2021</a> 🥁💙<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OneFamily?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OneFamily</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MumbaiIndians?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MumbaiIndians</a> <a href="https://t.co/yFjNmZZu9e">pic.twitter.com/yFjNmZZu9e</a>&mdash; Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) <a href="https://twitter.com/mipaltan/status/1351882158470688768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2021</a></blockquote>Joining him are Mitchell McCleneghan, James Pattinson, Sherfane Rutherford&nbsp;and Nathan Coulter-Nile. Among the Indian contingent uncapped legspinner Prince Balwant Rai&nbsp;and fast bowler Digvijay Deshmukh&nbsp;have also been shown the door.Sunrisers Hyderabad (Purse remaining INR 10.75 Crore)<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2Ff7ec05f105f590999f1394e9d8c414c900a44150.jpg" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200"> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">🚨 Attention <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OrangeArmy?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OrangeArmy</a> 🚨<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RisersRetained?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RisersRetained</a> for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IPL2021?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IPL2021</a> 📑<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IPLRetention?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IPLRetention</a> <a href="https://t.co/OsPeoLnDy2">pic.twitter.com/OsPeoLnDy2</a>&mdash; SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) <a href="https://twitter.com/SunRisers/status/1351875424322633730?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2021</a></blockquote>The 2016 IPL champions have released only five players - Billy Stanlake, Fabian Allen, Sanjay Yadav, B Sandeep&nbsp;and Yarra Prithvi Raj.

While Suresh Raina has been retained by CSK, Murali Vijay, Kedar Jadhav and Piyush Chawla have been released

Suresh Raina

Marcus Stoinis

Murali Vijay

Piyush Chawla

Chennai Super Kings

Kolkata Knight Riders

Delhi Capitals

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Mumbai Indians

Rajasthan Royals

Sunrisers Hyderabad

IPL 2021: Smith released, Samson named new RR captain

The IPL&#39;s governing council has decided that the eight franchises will be allowed to submit the names of their retained players by January 21, league&#39;s chairman Brijesh Patel said.Patel and members of the IPL GC recently had a virtual meeting earlier this week where the planning and preparations of the next IPL was discussed at length.&quot;We will have the players&#39; retention till January 21 and the trading window for the franchises closes on February 4,&quot; Patel, the former India Test batsman told PTI while informing that the date of the auction is yet to be finalised.It is expected that the mini auction that is supposed to be held this year for the existing eight teams will be held in the second or third week of February.The eight IPL teams enjoy a players&#39; purse of Rs 85 crore and Patel said that there will be &quot;no increase of purse&quot; for the 2021 auction.It is expected that Chennai Super Kings, one team that only had Rs 15 lakh left after the last auction, would release at least two big salaried players in Kedar Jadhav and Piyush Chawla and increase their purse.Mumbai Indians will probably retain most of its players as it&#39;s a very set team and may release a few players here and there to increase their purse from Rs 1.95 croreRajasthan Royals have the maximum purse 14.75 crore, followed by Sunrisers Hyderabad (10.1 crore), Delhi Capitals (9 crore), Kolkata Knight Riders (8.5 crore), Royal Challengers Bangalore (6.4 crore).It is learnt that governing council has decided to wait for a month before finalising whether the IPL-14 will be held in India or not.&quot;The BCCI will wait for a month to see how the COVID-19 situation is in India before finalising the schedule. Everyone wants it to be held in India but we still need to wait for some more time before taking a call,&quot; a BCCI source said.

It is expected that the mini auction that is supposed to be held this year for the existing eight teams will be held in the second or third week of February

Kedar Mahadav Jadhav

Piyush Pramod Chawla

Deadline for player retention is January 21: IPL chairman Brijesh Patel

Kris Srikkanth, the former India captain and selection committee chief, has slammed Mahendra Singh Dhoni&#39;s &quot;ridiculous&quot; calls for Chennai Super Kings in the ongoing IPL and asked what &quot;spark&quot; did he see in the under-performing Kedar Jadhav. Srikkanth was referring to Dhoni&#39;s remark that the youngsters in the Chennai Super Kings squad did not show the spark needed to challenge the seniors and break into the playing XI.&quot;I will never accept what Dhoni is saying about this process,&quot; Srikkanth told &#39;Star Sports Tamil.&quot;This process he keeps talking about is meaningless. You keep talking about process, process... but the process of selection itself is wrong.&quot;What is Dhoni&#39;s deal? He says (N) Jagadeesan (uncapped wicketkeeper-batsman) doesn&#39;t have spark, but does &#39;scooter&#39; Jadhav have that spark? This is ridiculous. I will not accept this answer today. All this talk of process, and Chennai&#39;s tournament itself is over,&quot; he added.Jagadeesan has played just one match so far. CSK currently lie bottom of the heap and succumbed to a seven-wicket loss against Rajasthan Royals on Monday for their seventh defeat in the 13th edition of the lucrative league. Srikkanth, who was the team mentor and brand ambassador of CSK in the inaugural edition of the IPL, also questioned Piyush Chawla&#39;s selection.&quot;Dhoni now says that since the pressure is off, he&#39;ll give the youngsters a chance. Come on, yaar. I don&#39;t understand this rubbish about the process at all. &quot;Karn Sharma at least took wickets. Chawla simply goes through the motions of bowling, coming on when the game is already lost. There is no doubt Dhoni is great, but I cannot agree with him or accept this.&quot;Dhoni&#39;s remarks, after the game, were met with severe criticism on the social media. &quot;Fair enough, this season we weren&#39;t really there,&quot; Dhoni said at the presentation ceremony. &quot;Also the youngsters, we didn&#39;t see the spark to push the guys. But what this result has done is give those youngsters a chance in the rest of the tournament.&quot;Maybe going forward we bring them in and they play without pressure.&quot;

CSK currently lie bottom of the heap and succumbed to a seven-wicket loss against Rajasthan Royals

Krisnamachari Srikkanth

Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Indian Premier League, 2020

What spark does Dhoni see in Jadhav? Srikkanth asks

Over the years, the Indian cricket team have gained a reputation as game&rsquo;s best chasers. But, the Indian Premier League is throwing up an unusual pattern where chasing a target in a 20-over game seems to be the most difficult job in the world.&nbsp;There is a lot of merit in chasing down totals in the modern-day limited-overs format, be it the dew factor or knowing how hard to go and plan accordingly.The big grounds in Dubai and Abu Dhabi are proving to be proverbial Achilles Heel and making it difficult for teams chasing. In the second and especially third week of the league, we witnessed many one-sided contests where anything above 170 plus is hard to chase. The side batting second throws in the towel between 15th and 17th over with matches decisively tilting to one side.There were two aberrations. First time when a total by Kings XI Punjab looked fighting and CSK made a mockery of the near 180-run chase with a 10-wicket win. Second, when CSK was making a mockery of a near 170-run target once again but lost in one of the most bizarre games of this edition.Interestingly, in both the exceptions, it was Mahendra Singh Dhoni&rsquo;s experienced bunch of professionals who were involved. But what would definitely worry a &lsquo;Gun Team&rsquo; like CSK is losing four out of their five matches while chasing, including one at Sharjah.One common thing I noticed among most teams is patchy performances from the middle-order. This is true for most franchises baring Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals. No marks for guessing these are the two teams, which have been pretty consistent during the first 20 days of the IPL.Take two players from every team&rsquo;s middle order and sifting through some of the stats would tell you that middle-order for six teams have struggled and hence we see a low percentage of successful chases.Mumbai Indians haven&rsquo;t had to chase much. Once when they had to against Royal Challengers Bangalore, they scored 89 out of the required 90 runs in the final five overs only to lose in the Super Over. Their stable middle-order enforcers Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard give their side a formidable look.Likewise, Delhi Capitals faltered in one of the chases but they have the arsenal in Rishabh Pant and Marcus Stoinis, who can clear the big grounds with ease.This is where CSK&rsquo;s season has gone into a tailspin primarily because Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran haven&rsquo;t exactly done what CSK is known for &ndash; controlling the game from overs 16 to 20 while chasing any score.Ditto for Kings XI Punjab, where power hitters Sarfaraz Khan and Glenn Maxwell have been complete flops during the two games where they have chased and lost.So what are the other factors that are contributing to the failure of the teams? Well, there are a few but one of the big reason is the dimensions of the Abu Dhabi and Dubai grounds.With 75 metres plus boundaries on one side, it effectively means that on most of the Indian grounds, it is at least five to six rows back into the stands.Not for once am I saying that modern players don&rsquo;t have explosive power. They have it in abundance but in the searing humidity, it is becoming difficult to perfectly execute those shots with regularity after fielding for 20 overs.Or else, you can&rsquo;t explain someone like Dhoni feeling short of breath and dehydrated towards the end. Mind it, if you know Dhoni, you will know that his pain and fatigue threshold is high.<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2F8ddbecaabfbb5e0eaa00e68c33db123555ba1e53.JPG" style="width: 600px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">The other reason I believe is some of the teams are either low on experience or some of their senior pros are extremely rusty.Take the Rajasthan Royals for example. After Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler and Steve Smith, the batting is very thin on experience and firepower until Ben Stokes completes his quarantine and figures in place of Tom Curran in that playing XI.In Royals, Robin Uthappa has looked rusty and out of place, maybe due to the extended lockdown. Riyan Parag, after a good season, has honestly looked out of depth. Rahul Tewatia had one unbelievable day but that happens once in 100 games.In case of Sunrisers Hyderabad, the middle-order comprises of three players, whose aggregate age is less than 60 years. To expect miracles from kids like Priyam Garg, Abdul Samad and Abhishek Sharma is a big ask.When batting first, without scoreboard pressure, they will click but you can&rsquo;t expect them to always pull off a Houdini act when you would be needing 70 off 5 overs. You would need a Warner or a Pandey to play that knock or find ways to fit in Jason Holder for his reach, which looks improbable now.Another big reason is the dew factor, which has made chasing difficult late in the evening. Most of the teams expected that dew will play its part in the tournament, but it has had little impact so far. Dew affects spinners comparatively more as gripping the wet ball is a nightmare. But these surfaces have more help for the faster bowlers, especially for bowlers who can hit the deck hard and at back of a length. No wonder the faster bowlers have performed better so far in the tournament.Sharjah is the odd venue out of the three, with a pitch as good as a concrete highway, smaller boundaries and fair amount of dew but all these factors also mean that while batting first, one can put mammoth totals creating the scoreboard pressure. Chasing totals with asking rate of 10+ from ball one cannot be easy, irrespective of the conditions.Let&rsquo;s hope the fourth week is better for the chasing teams because predictability based on a toss is the last thing one would want.

Deep Dasgupta feels that fielding for 20 overs in the searing humidity is making it difficult to execute the shots while chasing 

Glenn James Maxwell

Middle Muddle: Chasing becoming a tall order in IPL with a struggling middle-order

Former India opener Virender Sehwag has taken a dig at Chennai Super Kings&#39; faltering IPL campaign, saying that some of their batsmen think of the franchise as a &quot;government job&quot; in which remuneration is assured irrespective of performance.Chasing 168, veteran opener Shane Watson struck his second successive fifty to give CSK a perfect start on Wednesday, but the team choked at the back end of the innings and was restricted to 157 for five to suffer its fourth defeat in five matches.&quot;It should have been chased down. But the dot balls played by Kedar Jadhav and Ravindra Jadeja didn&#39;t help,&quot; Sehwag told &#39;Cricbuzz&#39;.&quot;And, in my view, some of the Chennai Super Kings batsmen think of CSK as a government job, whether you perform or not, they know they&#39;ll get their salary anyway,&quot; he added.CSK added just 14 runs from 11-14 overs, a period when they lost both Watson and an in-form Ambati Rayudu. Sent ahead of West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, Kedar Jadhav laboured to seven off 12 balls as KKR won the game by 10 runs.This is not the first instance of batsmen letting the team down. Last week, the MS Dhoni-led side had lost a closely fought match to Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven runs after a top-order collapse.The three-time champions have four losses from six games and are placed sixth in the eight-team standings. They will take on Virat Kohli&#39;s Royal Challengers Bangalore on Saturday.

The three-time champions have four losses from six games and are placed sixth in the eight-team standings

Ravindrasinh Anirudhsinh Jadeja

Virender Sehwag

Some CSK batsmen think it's a government job: Sehwag

Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming said Kedar Jadhav was sent ahead of Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo in a tense run chase against Kolkata Knight Riders because of his ability to play spin well.However, Jadhav laboured to seven off 12 balls as KKR won the game by 10 runs here on Wednesday.&quot;At the time, we thought that Kedar could play the spinner well and dominate, while Jadeja was there to come and finish. But in the end, there was too much work to do and we fell short,&quot; Fleming said at the press-match conference.Jadhav was trolled heavily on social media following the defeat.The New Zealander rued that their batsmen let it &quot;slip&quot; despite having so many resources. The team added just 14 runs from 11-14 overs, a period when they lost both Shane Watson and an in-form Ambati Rayudu.&quot;If we could have got one of those players to 75-plus and continued that partnership for another maybe four or five overs, the game might have been a lot different.&nbsp;&quot;Kolkata hung in there long enough to put pressure on us and we just couldn&#39;t accelerate. We feel disappointed that we let it slip.&quot;The absence of Suresh Raina, who pulled out of IPL for personal reasons, was once again felt sorely in the middle but Fleming said they have a well-balanced side.&quot;But the performances like today, with the experience we have got, we should have put it away.&quot;&quot;We have got a lot of batsmen anyway so the balance is very good with the six bowlers. I don&#39;t think an extra batsman is going to help.&quot;Dinesh Karthik&#39;s ploy to hold his ace spinner Sunil Narine for the back-end of the innings paid dividends as he dismissed his &#39;bunny&#39; Watson for the ninth time in T20s.&quot;Ideally, you have one or two players bat through...Today with (Sunil) Narine holding overs back, it made it very difficult in the back-end,&quot; the former Kiwi skipper said.Fleming further said they have plenty of batting resources and on the day their ploy did not work out.&quot;We&#39;ve got so much batting resources. Kedar is a late middle to late batter for India. We could have gone a whole lot of different ways. Today Kedar had some balls but that didn&#39;t work out.&quot;You always put players in different areas and that&#39;s just when you have so much batting talent to choose from. It&#39;s one of the things we look at, but it&#39;s all in hindsight.&quot;CSK bowlers on the other hand stood up to stage a remarkable comeback in the back to bowl out KKR for 167.In his first game of the season, legspinner Karn Sharma, who replaced Piyush Chawla in the XI, was the most economical of the lot and got CSK back into the game with his figures of 2/25 from his full quota.&quot;He&#39;s been waiting for a while for an opportunity. In the first over he was a bit unlucky but the next three overs he really worked hard and he got us back into the game. I think he can get some confidence from this.&quot;With the pitches drying out, we can use him in combination with Piyush and Jaddu. We might be able to operate with more spinners which we are used to,&quot; Fleming said.Medium pacers Sam Curran and Shradul Thakur also bagged two wickets, while left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja was not given the ball on a slow pitch.&quot;It&#39;s a question more for MS (Dhoni). I don&#39;t make those decisions. I would imagine that it was a little bit to do with the wind and also the matchups that were out there with the left-handers. I think the general feel was that the medium pacers were doing a good job,&quot; Fleming signed off.

The 35-year-old was trolled heavily on social media following the defeat

Dwayne John Bravo

Jadhav was sent ahead of Jadeja as he could play spin well: Fleming

Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming lost his cool and lashed out at those questioning the thought process behind sending Kedar Jadhav ahead of Mahendra Singh Dhoni in their Indian Premier League match against Sunrisers Hyderabad. CSK lost by seven runs to the David Warner-led side on Friday for their third straight defeat in the ongoing edition of the lucrative league. &quot;It is a question?&quot; a fuming Fleming asked at the post-match press conference.&quot;He (Jadhav) is our number four, Dhoni, primarily, is a middle to backend player, Kedar Jadhav is our number four, he plays a dual role, if we get off to a good start he might move down and let Dhoni up.&quot;If you lose early wickets then your number four batsman goes in.&quot;Jadhav faced 10 balls for his three runs. On the partnership between skipper Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja, which brought CSK back into the game, Fleming said the team needs to be more productive in the middle overs. &quot;We were in trouble through the middle (part of the innings) and MS (Dhoni) and Jaddu had to take time. They got us pretty close but they probably would want to be a little bit more productive in the middle.&quot;Obviously, when you have to deal with Rashid Khan&#39;s overs, it is a great challenge as well. Jaddu&#39;s momentum towards the end was encouraging,&quot; he added.Asked about Shane Watson&#39;s struggles at the top, he said &quot;Both Watson and Jadhav are looking for substantial contributions. Shane can light the fuse at any stage and with Kedhar it is the same.&quot;&quot;It&#39;s just our fourth game so it&#39;s pretty early in our cycle of form, but there is no doubt there is pressure and they will be feeling it more than what I am talking about.&quot;He also said CSK were patchy with what they were doing, adding in the last four overs SRH were very good. &quot;The last four overs in particular, they were very good and we were patchy. And we just lacked a little bit of confidence in the field.&quot;So there&#39;s little things all around, there&#39;s probably a dozen runs at least that we gave up just with the overthrows or bad movement. In a tight competition, that&#39;s going to cost us and we know that.&quot;We&#39;ve just got to get it right, got to get a bit of confidence and a bit of game rhythm and guys in form - and that can change pretty quickly. But also, if you don&#39;t address them, then we&#39;ll just slide away,&quot; Fleming added.The top-order&#39;s struggles, especially not being able to keep pace with the required run-rate, was a concern, the CSK coach admitted.&quot;Yeah it is a concern and you don&#39;t want to put yourself under pressure. We do need contributions from the top four if we&#39;re going to win this tournament.&quot;So we need to get some form from some big players at the top, we&#39;re still backing them. It&#39;s a case of getting into the tournament,&quot; he added.Fleming said CSK had plans for youngsters Priyam Garg and Abhishek Sharma who bailed SRH out of trouble. &quot;It&#39;s not like the Super Kings hadn&#39;t planned for them. We talked about them. All the bowlers had the information and footage on them and quite a lot of detail was done on them. They played well. That&#39;s youth for you, come out and attack.&quot;

Jadhav managed to score just three from 10 balls

Kedar Jadhav

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