STEPHEN FLEMING SAYS BATTING WILL BE CHENNAI SUPER KINGS’ STRENGTH AGAINST DECCAN CHARGERS

The Chennai Super Kings coach, Stephen Fleming said on Saturday that batting would be his side’s strength when they play Deccan Chargers at home on Sunday, May 1.

The Deccan Chargers have one of the best bowling attacks in the Indian Premiere League (IPL), including spearhead pacers from India and South Africa. However, Fleming was confident that the Dhoni-led Chennai side has the required firepower to counter the Indo-South African pace attack.

“Our top order is one of the biggest around and with Badrinath being in form. We've some wonderful Indian players along with Michael Hussey, so we're well-equipped to deal with any attack,” said the former New Zealand skipper while talking to the reporters at the pre-match media conference.

Naming the star performers of his side, Fleming said MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Albie Morkel are some of the biggest hitters in international cricket and the Kiwi thinks that the talent his team have got in their top six can outshine the top order of any other side.

The Deccan attack, which includes the likes of world’s number one bowler, Dale Steyn, and Ishant Sharma, played havoc against Kochi Tuskers Kerala on Wednesday, April 27, crushing them by 55 runs. Ishant Sharma was the star performer in Wednesday’s match, returning with stunning bowling figures of 5 for 12. Sharma was followed by Steyn who picked up three wickets.

Fleming said Chennai Super Kings’ defeat to Mumbai Indians last Friday, helped the team bring out a change in their attitude.

“The pleasing shift for me was the game against Mumbai,” said the New Zealander. “We got shown the standards of fielding in this competition and it was almost a challenge. The next two games we were outstanding. Once you set yourself a benchmark for yourself, it's very good.”

Earlier, the Vice Captain of Deccan Chargers, Cameron White said that his side had the required potential to upset Chennai. The Aussie all-rounder, however, did agree that the Super Kings would be a formidable side to defeat at home.

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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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Stephen Fleming not decisive of pursuing a coaching career

Former skipper of the New Zealand cricket team, Stephen Fleming, whose name has been in the news for the next coach of the Indian national squad, has said that he has not yet decided to take coaching as a full-time job.
Dwelling upon the topic, Fleming, who is currently coaching the Chennai Super Kings said, “I’m enjoying coaching Chennai Super Kings. I got my hands full at CSK. It is good experience. I haven’t thought a lot about my coaching career. It is something that I’ll consider as time goes on.”
Talking about his current job, the Kiwi said that it was a great challenge for him to take on the opportunity, as he is trying to develop his coaching philosophies in these two months.
While addressing the post-match conference after the Chennai side lost to the Mumbai Indians by eight runs, Fleming said that the narrow defeat at the Wankhede stadium was mainly contributed by the loss of quick wickets.
Commenting upon his team’s performance in the match, the former skipper said, “We are not quite getting across the victory line. We let another game slip away. We did OK in the field to restrict a powerful batting line up like theirs to 160 on a wicket that was getting better and better. We just lost key wickets at key moments.”
He was of the view that the match changed its’ position after the loss of Mike Hussey and MS Dhoni’s wickets. Fleming also praised the impressive fielding displayed by the Mumbai Indians and said that it proved to be a decisive factor between the two sides.
The left-handed opener was of the view that though the fielding in the Indian Premier League had met new standards, the Mumbai Indians had particularly displayed a terrific performance on the field, saving about 15 to 20 runs in the match.
Mumbai Indians’ Rohit Sharma took a splendid catch to get rid of the Chennai Super Kings skipper Dhoni, in their previous encounter. The catch was the turning point of the match, as Dhoni certainly has the capability to take the game away from the opposition.
Fleming said that though his boys could not display an equal standard of fielding, they would certainly try to do better on the ground next time. The CSK coach added that though his team was competing well in the IPL tournament, they will have to focus on winning games to ensure that they do not fall behind in the competition.
The former Kiwi skipper said that they were striving for devising a success formula for their team. Fleming added that his side have already laid the foundation and are now putting in their efforts to get better, as the tournament lingers on.

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STEPHEN FLEMING NOT DECISIVE OF PURSUING A COACHING CAREER

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Former skipper of the New Zealand cricket team, Stephen Fleming, whose name has been in the news for the next coach of the Indian national squad, has said that he has not yet decided to take coaching as a full-time job.

Dwelling upon the topic, Fleming, who is currently coaching the Chennai Super Kings said, “I’m enjoying coaching Chennai Super Kings. I got my hands full at CSK. It is good experience. I haven’t thought a lot about my coaching career. It is something that I’ll consider as time goes on.”

Talking about his current job, the Kiwi said that it was a great challenge for him to take on the opportunity, as he is trying to develop his coaching philosophies in these two months.

While addressing the post-match conference after the Chennai side lost to the Mumbai Indians by eight runs, Fleming said that the narrow defeat at the Wankhede stadium was mainly contributed by the loss of quick wickets.

Commenting upon his team’s performance in the match, the former skipper said, “We are not quite getting across the victory line. We let another game slip away. We did OK in the field to restrict a powerful batting line up like theirs to 160 on a wicket that was getting better and better. We just lost key wickets at key moments.”

He was of the view that the match changed its’ position after the loss of Mike Hussey and MS Dhoni’s wickets. Fleming also praised the impressive fielding displayed by the Mumbai Indians and said that it proved to be a decisive factor between the two sides.

The left-handed opener was of the view that though the fielding in the Indian Premier League had met new standards, the Mumbai Indians had particularly displayed a terrific performance on the field, saving about 15 to 20 runs in the match.

Mumbai Indians’ Rohit Sharma took a splendid catch to get rid of the Chennai Super Kings skipper Dhoni, in their previous encounter. The catch was the turning point of the match, as Dhoni certainly has the capability to take the game away from the opposition.

Fleming said that though his boys could not display an equal standard of fielding, they would certainly try to do better on the ground next time. The CSK coach added that though his team was competing well in the IPL tournament, they will have to focus on winning games to ensure that they do not fall behind in the competition.

The former Kiwi skipper said that they were striving for devising a success formula for their team. Fleming added that his side have already laid the foundation and are now putting in their efforts to get better, as the tournament lingers on.

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Mahela Jayawardene endorses review of Duckworth Lewis system for Twenty20 cricket

Kochi Tuskers Kerala skipper Mahela Jayawardene has endorsed a review of the Duckworth Lewis system for Twenty20 cricket despite benefiting from the system in their Indian Premier League match against the Chennai Super Kings on Monday.
The Sri Lanka batsman stated that the time has come to judge whether the method is good enough to be used in both One Day Internationals and Twenty20 cricket.
“It has to be reviewed. Duckworth/Lewis is a method which they came up for ODIs. To my limited knowledge, they do take an average score to make that formula. I think it is somewhere around 230 or 240. So once you take an average score like that and apply that in Twenty20s, the whole thing is different,” Jayawardene said.
The Duckworth Lewis method might have worked in Kochi’s favour when their IPL game against CSK was restricted to 17 overs per side. The Chennai batsmen could not bat for complete 20 overs, which eventually restricted them from putting up a big total. The Kerala outfit had a target of 135 in 17 overs, which they achieved easily in the end.
The system was first developed by two English statisticians, Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis to tackle the problem of delayed ODI games interrupted by inclement weather or any other reason. The method was adopted by the International Cricket Council in 1999. Although it is generally considered as one of the most fair and accurate ways of calculation, it has generated some controversies as well.
The whole system works on calculating an average score and predicting the target for team batting second in both ODIs and Twenty20 cricket. That is why Jayawardene believes that the average score in a Twenty20 match should not be determined in the similar way as it is done for 50-over cricket.
“It is tough. But we need that sort of a calculation for situations like this. It is not easy. But there is room for improvement in all areas,” the former Sri Lanka captain added.
Meanwhile, the Chennai Super Kings coach, Stephen Fleming slammed the method and said, “It is a disadvantage. There is an anomaly and should not be around.”
Calling it as the biggest cause of his team’s defeat at the hands of Kochi Tuskers Kerala, Fleming also termed the method as ‘rubbish’ for the shortest format of the game.

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Kochi Tuskers Kerala captain Mahela Jayawardene believes team moving in right direction – IPL news

Kochi Tuskers Kerala skipper Mahela Jayawardene has said that the team is moving in the right direction after their consecutive wins over Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians in the fourth edition of the ongoing Indian Premier League.

The captain said that the victory over CSK had given a lot of positive energy to the players, which would surely help them in the upcoming matches.

After facing a couple of humiliating defeats in their opening IPL matches, the Kochi side roared back in style, notching two successive triumphs in the tournament.

Having defeated Mumbai Indians in the 13^th match of the IPL, Jayawardene and company thrashed defending champions Chennai Super Kings by seven wickets on Monday.

Chasing Kings’ target of 135 runs as per the Duckworth Lewis method, the Kochi side achieved the target convincingly with the help of a blistering innings from Brendon McCullum. The Kiwi wicketkeeper batsman scored 47 runs from just 33 balls with the help of 3 sixes and 4 boundaries.

“I think we are heading in the right direction, I mean beating Mumbai and Chennai is two huge win for us and we have got a lot of positives out of these two games but its like I said early in the tournament, we have to be consistent over a period of time and we work hard in areas which we have to improve and do that,” said Jayawardene.

Meanwhile, CSK coach Stephen Fleming blamed an hour-long rain interruption for the loss against Kochi. Fleming described that the team was in a great position after scoring 65 for 2 in 9 overs. However, with three overs less than the usual 20, the lower order batsmen did not get the opportunity to add some quick runs to the total.

Fleming believed that if his team had been given the complete quota of 20 overs, the result would have been different.

It was Chennai Super Kings’ second defeat in the competition. In contrast, the Kochi Tuskers have jumped up to the fourth spot in the IPL rankings with their second consecutive win in the tournament.

Kochi Tuskers are now due to lock their horns with the leading side of the season, Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday.

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