Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming lost his cool during the post-match press conference after his team’s 7-run loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Match 14 of the IPL 2020 on Friday.
CSK suffered their 3rd loss in succession for the first time since the 2014 season after failing to chase down 165 against SRH in Dubai. They are still languishing in last place on the points table with just 1 win from 4 games so far.
CSK sent in Kedar Jadhav to bat ahead of MS Dhoni at No.4 but the former managed just 3 runs before getting out to leg-spinner Abdul Samad.
Dhoni tried his best to keep his team in the hunt during his 72-run partnership for the 5th-wicket with Ravindra Jadeja (50) but the top-order’s failure meant the asking rate kept climbing throughout the chase which eventually went out of CSK’s grasp despite the captain’s valiant effort in the death overs.
Fleming was later asked about reason behind send Jadhav ahead of Dhoni, one of the best finishers in white-ball cricket. The CSK head coach seemed irritated with the question at first but justified the team management’s decision before deciding to cut his answer short.
Reporter: What was the though-process behind sending Kedar Jadhav ahead of MS Dhoni?
Fleming: Really? I said really, it’s a question? Well he’s (Kedar Jadhav) our number four, Dhoni primarily is a middle-to-backend player. Kedar Jadhav is our No.4, he plays dual roles where if we get off to a good start, he might move down and let Dhoni up but when your losing early wickets then your No.4 batsman goes in so… You can’t keep, no I’ll stop there.
CSK kept losing wickets regularly during their 165-run chase and were eventually stopped at 157 for 5 with Ravindra Jadeja (50) and Dhoni (47 not out) being the only two batsman who managed significant contributions.
Earlier, SRH posted 164 for 5 after electing to bat first with Priyam Garg scoring 51 not out while Abhishek Sharma (31) and Manish Pandey (29) also played crucial roles.
