Following his side’s six-wicket loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) head coach Stephen Fleming said that his team missed the presence of key pacers like Matheesha Pathirana and Mustafizur Rahman. Chennai Super Kings suffered their second consecutive defeat in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, after Abhishek Sharma’s blitz and a clinical bowling spell guided Sunrisers Hyderabad to a six-wicket victory on Friday at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
While Pathirana missed out on the match due to a niggle, Mustafizur is in Bangladesh to get his visa for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup in West Indies/USA starting from June 1 onwards.
Mukesh Chaudhary was given a chance to play his first game since 2022. The pacer was a standout bowler in 2022, taking 16 wickets in 13 matches, including a four-wicket haul. But his return was forgettable as he was smashed for 27 runs in a single over by Abhishek Sharma and was removed from the attack.
Following the match in the post-match press conference, Fleming said, “Without a doubt (If missing Pathirana and Mustafizur affected the outcome), it is part of the IPL. Having injuries and losing players in an IPL is part of the process.”
“We had a chance to introduce Mukesh Chaudhary today. He was good for us a while back. It was not his day. But that is part of the IPL, managing players, and when you do find yourself a little bit short on firepower, it is finding the new hero,” said Fleming.
The coach said that his team missed out on some important runs, failing to make the best use of the powerplay while batting.
“And, it did not happen today, but we put trust in the players that we introduced and they have been training well and doing the job. Tough baptism. The first five or six overs were the best to bat, and the aggressive way in which they played showed that. So, being able to get a wicket first over and maybe shut down the second, it could have been a competitive score, but maybe 15 short and, not quite accurate enough for first six overs with the ball,” said Fleming.
Coming to the match, SRH won the toss and opted to bowl first. Rachin Ravindra (12) and skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad (26 in 21 balls, with three fours and a six) got out early, reducing CSK to 54/2 in 7.1 overs.
Then knocks from Shivam Dube (45 in 24 balls, with two fours and four boundaries), Ravindra Jadeja (31 in 23 balls, with fours boundaries) and Ajinkya Rahane (35 in 30 balls, with two fours and six) took CSK to 165/5 in their 20 overs.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/28), T Natarajan (1/39), skipper Cummins (1/29) and Jaydev Unadkat (1/29) were among the wickets for SRH.
In the run-chase, Travis Head (31 in 24 balls, with three fours and a six) and Abhishek Sharma (37 in 12 balls, with three fours and four sixes) started off really well, taking SRH to 106 in 9.4 overs. Aiden Markram scored a brilliant half-century (50 in 36 balls, with four boundaries and a six). Heinrich Klaasen (10*) and Nitish Reddy (11*) took SRH to a six-wicket win.
Moeen Ali (2/23) was the pick of the bowlers for CSK. Deepak Chahar and Maheesh Theekshana got a wicket too.
Abhishek’s explosive knock earned him the ‘Player of the Match’ award.
SRH has climbed to the fifth spot with two wins and two losses in four games, giving them four points. With the same win-loss ratio, CSK is at the third spot with four points due to a better run-rate.
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