Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming satisfied with bowling and fielding displays

Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming accredited his team’s 25-run win over Pune Warriors India at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai to the bowlers and fielders of the side.

He urged the players to emulate the standard of fielding in the upcoming matches of the ongoing Indian Premier League.

“We would look to replicate this standard of fielding in our coming matches,” said the former New Zealand skipper while talking to the reporters at the post-match media conference. “Today, we were desperate to win. This kind of fielding helps the bowler to be a bit more confident and gives the skipper much more confidence to dictate the game.”

Fleming confessed that their fielding was below par in the previous games and they were desperate to make the difference. He insisted that the side still needs to work hard in this department.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men were quite unimpressive with the bat as the side managed to score 142 for 6 in 20 overs- thanks to the heroics of Michael Hussey who scored 61 off 48 balls hitting 4 boundaries and a six. In reply, the Warriors were 117 for 9 at the end of their allotted 20 overs.

The 38-year-old New Zealander admitted that Chennai were 15 odd runs short of a competitive score. Even then, he was happy with his bowlers and fielders were successful in putting the opposition under pressure in the second half of the game.

“We knew it was a below par score. Since our best players were struggling on that track, we felt it would be a tough score to attain,” said Fleming.

“We knew we had to bowl and field well. We increased the pressure on the rival batsmen as the match progressed. When they were scoring at six runs an over, we knew we had a good chance to win the match,” he added further.

The Chennai coach termed Jesse Ryder’s wicket as the turning point in the game. Fleming said that had the hard-hitting Kiwi batsman gone for some big hits, it would have been quite difficult for them to defend their total.

The defending champions are currently placed on number four on the tournament points table with a tally of 6 points from 3 victories in 5 games.

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YUVRAJ SINGH WANTS TO LEAD PUNE WARRIORS INDIA WITH A RELAXED MIND

Stylish Punjab batsman and Pune Warriors India captain Yuvraj Singh wants to lead the debutant Indian Premier League franchise from Pune with a relaxed mind.

Yuvraj conceded that he had been under immense pressure while leading Kings XI Punjab in the last two IPL seasons and that affected his individual performance adversely.

He said that this time the easy approach has worked for him as his newly built Pune side won its maiden IPL game against Kings XI Punjab by 7 wickets.

“The first two years that I captained Kings XI Punjab, I took a lot of pressure on myself and was getting distracted a lot on the field,” said Yuvraj. “This time I just thought I'll be calm and relaxed and that worked for me. It was a good toss to lose; we bowled wicket to wicket, back of a length, and got the results.”

Kings XI Punjab, Yuvraj’s previous IPL team, seemed completely out of flair and its captain Adam Gilchristdescribed the seven-wicket defeat as “poor all-round performance.”

He was also unhappy with the butterfingered show of fielding as the side failed to capitalise on the chances offered by Yuvraj Singh and a belligerent Robin Uthappa.

“It was a poor all-round performance,” said the former Australia wicketkeeper. “It started with me in the first over and that set the tone for the innings. A couple of catches could have been taken and that would have left them at five for 70 odd. We just weren't good enough.”

Most of the players Kings XI Punjab bought this time are new and Gilchrist said that the team needs more time to settle down.

He further added that they were quite comfortable coming into the game but now they would go back and make a plan for the upcoming games as it is a lengthy tournament and they still have long way to go.

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