Stephen Fleming, the Chennai Super Kings [ CSK ] head coach, was left disappointed with his batsmen’s performances in their 10-run defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders [ KKR ] in the IPL 2020.

Set 168 to win, CSK were cruising at 101-2 after 13 overs but their middle order failed spectacularly, falling short of the target even with five wickets in hand. While Sam Curran and Ravindra Jadeja showed intent, MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav simply couldn’t get going – both facing 12 balls each to score 11 and seven runs respectively.

CSK between overs 12 and 18

3⃣3⃣ runs
4⃣ wickets#IPL2020 #KKRvCSK pic.twitter.com/PU3qYrJqIc

— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) October 7, 2020

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Speaking in the post-match conference, Fleming said that KKR saving Sunil Narine for the latter half of CSK’s chase made things difficult for them. “Ideally, you want one batsman to bat through,” he said. “If you give an opening to an IPL team, they’ve got quality players to take it. Today with Narine holding overs back, it made it very difficult in the end.

“You are looking at players going on and making 75 or more and continue that partnership for five more overs, the game would have been a lot more different. KKR hung in there and put pressure on us. We couldn’t accelerate in the end. We are disappointed that we let it slip.”

Fleming also explained the thought process behind sending Kedar Jadhav ahead of the likes of Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja. “Kedar is a middle-to-late batter for India,” he said.

✅ Clinical win against CSK
✅ Third on the points table

The boss is happy!#IPL2020 #KKRvsCSK pic.twitter.com/uxoUslv9Sp

— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) October 7, 2020

“He faced some balls but it didn’t work out. We look at all of these things and think if we could’ve done it better but it’s all in hindsight. Kedar could play the off-spinner well and dominate the area. Also Jadeja could finish, but we fell short.”