MS Dhoni batted below Kedar Jadhav at number five against SRH and CSK coach Stephen Fleming has defended the decision.
Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming has said that the side would be needing contributions from top-4 if they have to sustain a chance of "winning the IPL." The comments came after CSK faced their third successive loss in IPL 2020 on Friday against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Shane Watson had a poor outing with the bat yet again as he was dismissed on 1. Ambati Rayudu, who made a return after being on sidelines with injury in the past two matches, also failed to impress as he was dismissed on 8. Jadhav, who came at number four, could only score 3.
"We've got players who are looking to find form. Faf du Plessis is in-form, Rayudu is coming disjointed, but yeah, you need contributions from top-4 if you have to win this tournament," Fleming said in the post-match press conference.
However, Fleming remains positive that the players will bounce back."It's the fourth game, so it's still pretty early considering our cycle of form. There's no doubt there will be pressure on them (Watson and Jadhav."
The CSK coach also heaped praise on Priyam Garg (51*) and Abhishek Sharma (31), who steered the SRH innings after early setback.
"We talked about them," he said. "All the bowlers had the information and footage on them and quite a lot of detail was done on them. They played well!
"That's youth for you, come out and attack."
Fleming also defended the decision to send Kedar Jadhav at number four, and said that MS Dhoni is a "middle to backend player" in the side.
"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. If you lose early wickets then your number four batsman goes in," said Fleming.
On Dhoni and Jadeja's partnership which brought the Super Kings back in the game, Fleming said that the side needs to be more productive in the middle overs.
"We were in trouble through the middle (part of the innings) and MS (Dhoni) and Jaddu (Jadeja) had to take time. We got close but they probably would want to be a little bit more productive in the middle. Obviously, when you have to deal with Rashid Khan's overs, it is a great challenge as well. Jaddu's momentum towards the end was encouraging," he said.
