Punjab Kings bowler Rahul Chahar celebrates after taking the wicket of Shivam Dube during the Indian Premier League 2024 match in Dharamsala on May 5, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Even as Chennai Super Kings brought its IPL campaign back on track with a 28-run win against Punjab Kings, concerns remained over its middle-order.
At one stage of the game, captain Ruturaj Gaikwad and Daryl Mitchell bossed the PowerPlay and it seemed CSK was on course for a 200-plus total, but a middle-order debacle halted the team’s run flow.
However, CSK bowling coach Eric Simons wasn’t too concerned about the middle-order failure and hoped things would get better in the upcoming fixtures. “I think we won’t be over-concerned about the middle-order. We know the quality is there and it might not have happened in this game. But as we move forward, we hope to fire again,” Simons said after the game on Sunday.
It was the second time in a row that Shivam Dube fell for a golden duck, but the seasoned coach backed the India international. “I don’t think that’s a problem when you have a blip once or twice. That (middle-order) has been our strength. Dube has been incredible but he got out early twice now and that happens. The guys fought hard on the other side and got us to a decent total that we could defend,” Simons said.
“We had a few injury issues, and working away from the initial 11-12 has been important. So, for someone like Samarjeet to come in and do what he did tonight was very important. It was obviously his first game and the nerves were there. To get the wickets that did was magical. So, it’s important to make sure that the whole squad is ready because we never know when we are gonna call them.”
