IPL 2022: Fleming compares dew in Mumbai's ground to Niagra Falls
Apr 01, 2022
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 1 : After his side got thrashed by Lucknow Super Giants on Thursday, Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming said that the amount of dew that was present during the match was like Niagra Falls.
It was a complete team effort as Lucknow Super Giants chased down a big target of 211 in 19.3 overs against Chennai Super Kings to register a six-wicket win here at Brabourne Stadium.
"If you'd looked earlier on, spinning options were taken out of play. Because it was like Niagara Falls in terms of the wetness and they [LSG] played well. So it was very hard to, one, grip the ball for a spinner and, two, to be effective. So early on, we were one over short but they played well. We always knew we had to pick up an over somewhere - we were hoping to be able to create enough of a run-rate towards the end that we could squeeze someone in," said Fleming in a post-match presentation.
"Whether that was another spinner, the decision was made in the middle to use Dube, and they counted it well. So we always knew that one over was going to be pivotal and I think they did as well, but they played it very well," he added.
The head coach further said he thought that 210 runs were 'above par' and the conditions in Maharashtra always favour the team who is chasing.
"We thought it was about par, and that's the nature of the conditions at the moment - they very much favour the team batting second. We did well to get to 210, but we were always realistic that it was going to get harder as the night went on. So we worked very hard to stay in the game, to be honest," said the head coach.
"Defensively, I thought we were great. After about 10 overs, we just knuckled down and I thought we were fantastic to stay in the game. But it's pretty hard fielding second at the moment," he added.
Chennai Super Kings batters Robin Uthappa, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube batted well and took Lucknow bowlers to the cleaners but there was one bowler on the Lucknow side who bagged two wickets and conceded only 24 runs in four overs.
Ayush Badoni has been a real find for Lucknow as the youngster clicked in the first match of the season scoring a half-century and in the successful chase against CSK, the youngster scored an unbeaten 19 from 9-balls to guide his team to a six-wicket win.
Chennai Super Kings will now be facing Punjab Kings on Sunday while Lucknow Super Giants will be going up against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Monday.
