Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming has urged the senior players in the team to step up. CSK have only 2 out of their first 7 games in the tournament.
00:00The wickets are hard to read full stop, and I think most teams are looking at home for a little bit of continuity.
00:12So when you come to an away game, you do look at statistics and how it's played, and we note last game was difficult.
00:19This pitch has been a little bit more high scoring this year, so that's the first thing we look at.
00:25I think the greatest thing for us is to adapt to whatever it is on the day.
00:30We've talked about Chennai, how we haven't adapted that well to wickets that we've had at home.
00:35Our assessment of those wickets have been poor, so we've tried to make a point of getting better at assessing the wicket
00:42and then putting a game plan in place.
00:44Sometimes you can get too far ahead of yourself assuming it's going to be 200, 200 plus,
00:49and as we saw the other night, it can be a little bit tricky this time of year.
00:54So the assessment is important.
00:56What I do know, it's a ground that if conditions are right, the ball can fly.
01:00So defensive bowling has been a priority for Mumbai's success in the past and power hitting.
01:06So I'm sure there will be pockets of play during this game where there will be two to four,
01:12so we're well aware of that as well.
01:14Ashwin, yeah, it's always hard to leave a player out.
01:17We were looking at an impact player role, but the toss didn't work out our way.
01:22But when you've got two spinners in Jadeja and Noor Ahmed, the third spinner is a luxury.
01:31I'm not saying Ashwin by any chance is carried as a luxury.
01:34He's a fine bowler, a quality player.
01:36So we look at the team we're playing and the right combination.
01:41The other thing we have to acknowledge is that there are other areas in our game that have been below par.
01:45So sometimes you have to sacrifice a little bit of a strength to cover up another area.
01:50So we've been looking to get the right balance and looking to make sure all aspects of our team are covered
01:57rather than just having one or two strengths.
02:00Looking at your squad players, some of the names like Rutura, Huda, Rahul Tripathi and Vijay Shankar,
02:10there have been a lot of talk going on around them.
02:13How long will you have patience with them and when do you expect them to score,
02:17or are you beginning to look beyond them for the next half of your league matches?
02:21Because it's only two wins from seven and it's not going to be an easy ride from here on.
02:27Yes, they're delicate phases and we're still in the competition but we're hanging on by a thread.
02:31So trying to find the balance between giving guys an extended run just to show some form
02:36but also wanting to get results.
02:39And that's unfortunately the position we find ourselves in.
02:42We all have run out of time to be too patient.
02:46But on the other hand we don't want to keep chopping and changing,
02:49trying to find the magic formula and quite possibly our tournament has been that this far.
02:55We haven't been happy with all areas so we have been trying to look for players to step up.
03:00And we still do that.
03:01We got a win in the last game but there are still areas where we weren't as good as what we can be.
03:06We've got one eye on this season, or two eyes on this season
03:10but we've also got a little bit of a look forward making sure that we are developing players for the future.
03:17And that might be the second half of this season if it doesn't go well over the next couple of games.
03:22Coach, do you think you got the best out of Jadeja with the bat and ball in the season so far?
03:28And has he himself found it tougher with his lower order hitting now that he doesn't play T20 eyes?
03:33Yeah, not yet.
03:34And just having Jadeja up the order now for a little bit of time,
03:39we've given him the opportunity to bat for a period of time.
03:42He has been down the order when we took, obviously changed the balance of the side.
03:48He played more of a finishing role with MS.
03:51The last team we put out, he was higher which will give him more of an opportunity.
03:55Bowling-wise it was good.
03:56The last couple of games have been very good.
03:58The last game was excellent.
03:59And I hope that form continues.
04:01We need him with the bat.
04:03We need all of our players with the bat to step up.
04:06We haven't really had innings of substance so far.
04:08We've been doing it in bits and pieces.
04:10And Jadeja being one of the senior batters, it would be nice for him to do it.
04:16Stephen, you've drafted a couple of talented youngsters, Deval Breves and Ayush Matre, local boy.
04:24So in the last game we saw Sheik Rashid made an impressive debut.
04:28So will the team sort of look to blood in these youngsters going forward in the XI
04:33and sort of throw them in the deep end?
04:36Yeah, our results to date have brought all the squad members into play.
04:41It's been our tradition in the past to stick with more experienced players.
04:47And they've given us the results that we were after.
04:50But when you don't get the results you're looking for, all the squad members and philosophies are tested.
04:56And certainly you've seen by the addition of players and the use of players
05:00that we will be using more players this year in the squad than what we have done before.
05:04Again, we're still in the mix with this tournament.
05:07But if things don't go our way then there's still quite a lot of games that we can look at how we move forward in a positive way.
05:13But we're still focused very much on being part of this tournament right to the end.
05:16And it's going to take some doing but it's that determination within CSK that's got us there before.
05:22Coach, specifically about Deval, can you give us an update? Has he joined? Is he here? Will he be available for selection tomorrow?
05:31And midway through the season, how much does it have to do with the form of the Indian experienced batters that you spoke about earlier?
05:41I couldn't hear the first bit.
05:44Is he up for selection now? Is he here?
05:47Brevis has just arrived today so we will see. He's at training. He won't do a massive amount today.
05:53But he's been playing a lot of cricket in South Africa and playing well.
05:56So that was one of the appeals of getting him involved.
06:00I've been an admirer of him for some time and being a part of South Africa in the franchise cricket, watching him closely and his development is going well.
06:11So excited to have him.
06:12Will he play tomorrow? We'll make a call closer to time.
06:15It's everybody, not just Indian senior players.
06:19We pick overseas batters as well where we want a certain amount of runs.
06:24We need everybody to step up and they're well aware of that.
06:27And it's a case of getting one or two underway.
06:31And so back to my answer before, we've had cameos but nothing of substance.
06:35To win the competition, you need your top three or four to get 75% of the runs.
06:40And if you look at the teams at the top of the table right now, that is the case.
06:43But we're well aware as a team and as individuals what they need to do.
06:47And we're hoping someone will grab that tomorrow.
06:50Hi.
06:51You just mentioned you are keeping an eye on a couple of players to groom them for the future.
06:58Could you tell us who are the couple of players and what about them has impressed you the most?
07:04We've got a few actually.
07:06Gosh is one.
07:07He's an all-rounder.
07:08I think he's got a nice future.
07:11Obviously, Ayash has just joined us, was impressive in trials.
07:15But obviously, he's really young in terms of experience.
07:19Sheikh Rashid has been with us for a while.
07:22And there are a number of other guys who are Nagakati who's played quite a bit.
07:28They're all good players.
07:30And it's just where they will fit in at the moment.
07:34Probably the batting is the weakest side of it.
07:36So batting is getting the focus.
07:37But we've got, I think, a nice crop of seam bowlers as well who are doing well.
07:41We've seen Mukesh Chaudhry come in.
07:43Kamboj has now got that spot.
07:45We're actually really happy with the squad.
07:47It's just how we're performing and where we can get more out of it.
07:51Last one.
07:52Coach, you also mentioned about having the top three.
07:55The importance of top three batting through and making major contributions.
07:58Rajan Revendre is somebody who has been at the top of the order for Chennai.
08:02And just wanted your assessment on how this season has been for him,
08:05given the run that he has had, the performances that he has given so far.
08:09Rajan?
08:10Yeah, Rajan.
08:11Yeah, Rajan's been good.
08:12He's been still very pleasant on the eye.
08:15We just need a little bit more.
08:17And he's well aware of that.
08:19I thought he was very good in the last game.
08:22He was very accurate with what he's doing.
08:26And you go back to the first game where he was very smart with winning the game against Mumbai.
08:30So, look, it's all there.
08:32It's just we need a little bit more.
08:34It's middling to fair.
08:36We need good to excellent if we're going to stay in this competition and keep getting better.
08:41But we are going to miss Guyquad.
08:43He is a class player.
08:44And he is a class batter in that number three Indian batter in that top three.
08:49And so we are trying to fill that hole.
08:51But it's an opportunity that the likes of Rajan need to step up and take.
08:55Or Conway if he gets the opportunity.
08:57Or a couple of the young players.
08:59But whoever it is that they are well aware we need to give them.
