Put in to bat, riding on Ambati Rayudu’s unbeaten 72 in just 27 balls (4x4, 7x6), Moeen Ali’s 36-ball 58 and Du Plessis’ 50 in 28 balls, CSK posted a mammoth 218-4 in the allotted 20 overs.
CSK captain MS Dhoni with coach Stephen Fleming. Pic/Suresh Karkera
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) head coach Stephen Fleming defended captain MS Dhoni’s move to have fielders near the boundary line when Mumbai Indians (MI) needed just two runs to win before the last ball of the game.
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In a thrilling IPL encounter on Saturday, MI’s Kieron Pollard (unbeaten 87 in 34 balls, 6x4, 8x6) just managed to push that outside- the-off-stump yorker bowled by pacer Lungi Ngidi (0-62), but when long-on fielder Faf Du Plessis came and threw it, Pollard had enough time to secure those important two runs and seal the match by four wickets in Delhi.
When asked whether he was surprised to see the defensive field placement for the last ball, Fleming said: “Pollard is such a good timer of the ball that you never know what he is going to do. Got so much to win, to be honest, we were looking for something like the stumps being hit or like the result we had when we got beaten in the 2019 final,” Fleming said at the post-match virtual press conference on Saturday night.
However, the former New Zealand captain felt there were few other mistakes, which cost the game to CSK.
“I think there are a lot of other instances that we’ll have a look at and analyse rather than just the last ball. The quality of batting in the small grounds with good surfaces is sometimes very hard to defend,” admitted Fleming.
Put in to bat, riding on Ambati Rayudu’s unbeaten 72 in just 27 balls (4x4, 7x6), Moeen Ali’s 36-ball 58 and Du Plessis’ 50 in 28 balls, CSK posted a mammoth 218-4 in the allotted 20 overs.
In reply, by 10th over MI lost their top three wickets for 81. But, Pollard's attacking mindset changed the game in favour of defending champions.
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