CSK coach Stephen Fleming admitted that his side missed the services of both Mustafizur Rahman and Matheesha Pathirana during their loss to SRH on April 5, Friday in Hyderabad. Chennai were notably light in the bowling front with the team missing out.
CSK coach Stephen Fleming regretted the fact his side were missing the services of Mustafizur Rahman and Matheesha Pathirana for their match against SRH, but admitted that it was part of the IPL process. CSK were handed their second consecutive loss in Hyderabad after the home side dealt with the chase of 166, thanks to a hurricane thump by Abhishek Sharma at the start.
A fifty from Aiden Markram and 31 from Travis Head set up the 6-wicket win eventually. Nonetheless, CSK were notably a bit light on the bowling front on Friday with Mustafizur back home in Bangladesh because of visa issues and Pathirana having a niggle. Speaking at the press meeting after the match, Fleming said that there was no question that Mustafizur was a major miss. The CSK coach also said that Mukesh Choudhary, who was making his IPL return, didn’t have the best of days after yielding 27 in his just finished.
“Without a doubt’s, It’s part of the IPL. He hasn’t arrived, so we can’t use him. But having injuries and losing players in an IPL is part of the process.”
“We got an opportunity to introduce Mukesh Chaudhary today. He was great as far as we were concerned some time back. It wasn’t his day. But that’s part of the IPL It’s overseeing players, and when you really do end up a little bit short on capability, it’s tracking down the new legend,” said Fleming.
We were perhaps 15 runs short eventually: Fleming
Fleming also felt that his side were 15 runs short eventually and weren’t accurate enough in the powerplay overs.
“And, it didn’t occur today, but we put trust in the players that we introduced and they’ve been training great and finishing the work. Tough baptism. The first five or six overs were the best to bat, and the aggressive manner by which they played showed that. So, having the option to get a wicket first finished and perhaps shut as the second progressed, it might have been a competitive score, but perhaps 15 short and, not quite accurate enough for first six overs with the ball,” said Fleming.
Mustafizur is second in the Purple Cap standings at the moment with 7 wickets, while Pathirana has 4 wickets to his name from 2 matches. CSK will trust that the pair will be back in time for the match against KKR on April 8 in Chennai.