Things haven’t been going smoothly for CSK in IPL 2020. They have looked like a pale shadow of their former selves. In fact, it wouldn’t be unfair to say that they have looked the most lackluster team in the tournament in the first couple of weeks. And them being at the 8th position is merely a reflection of how they’ve faired on the field.
CSK’s strength was the stability and calmness of the squad. In Dhoni’s school of captaincy, tinkering with the squad and the batting order is generally not the way to go. However, this season their batting order has been haywire. And while the T20 format demands dynamism and adaptability, too much of it leads to confusion and chaos.
Stephen Fleming loses his cool in the press conference
Not only MS Dhoni, but long time coach Stephen Fleming is also known for remaining unflappable and maintaining his composure. The Fleming-Dhoni combine is known to suck the emotion out of the game and take prudent decisions. Having said that, it’s very difficult to maintain one’s composure amongst widespread criticism.
The yellow army has been repeatedly criticized for too much change in the batting order and leaving Dhoni for too late. In the press conference after the game against SRH, Stephen Fleming was asked the reasoning for sending Kedar Jadhav ahead of Dhoni. This question apparently irked the former Kiwi captain and he lost his cool.
Fleming replied, “Really? I said really, it’s a question? Well, he’s (Kedar Jadhav) our number four, Dhoni primarily is a middle-to-backend player. Kedar Jadhav is our No.4, he plays dual roles where if we get off to a good start, he might move down and let Dhoni up but when your losing early wickets then your No.4 batsman goes in so… You can’t keep, no I’ll stop there.”