Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming lashed out at the Chepauk camp for lack of attendance for spinners after his team’s loss against Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday (April 23).
CSK suffered a sad six-wicket defeat as they failed to defend a grand total of 210 runs at home. It was also their first loss of the season at home. CSK looked set to win the game after a century from their captain Ruturaj Gaikwad and a whirlwind half-century from Shivam Dube propelled them to a grand total of 210/4 in 20 overs.
In response, LSG reeled at 33 for 2 in the powerplay with two of their leading batsmen, KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock, back in the hut. However, Marcus Stoinis fought a lone battle and single-handedly inflicted a six-wicket defeat on CSK.
The Australian all-rounder came up with one of the greatest knocks in IPL history to propel LSG to a famous victory. Stoinis scored an unbeaten 124 runs off 63 balls as LSG chased 2011 runs with three balls remaining.
Stephen Fleming unhappy with the release:
After the defeat, Stephen Fleming did not hesitate to criticize the Chennai pitch for not favoring the home team. The former New Zealand captain highlighted the lack of support for spinners on the field. He went on to say that CSK’s publicity department was fired due to the release.
CSK spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Moeen Ali bowled two overs each in the game, conceding 16 and 21 runs respectively without picking any wicket. Since the spinners could not make any impact, CSK relied on the fast bowlers. However, the dew negated the impact of the pacers and LSG chased down the total in the last over.
“We had a pitch that was excellent, I think, it turned and we won comfortably. Yes, I would like to have more synergy between the pitch and what we are trying to do. And I would say without shame that it is On your own turf, you have to defend and you choose the teams accordingly”, Stephen Fleming said.
“So when it’s out of sync, you find it very difficult. It’s still not quite right, but you have to be good enough to play what’s in front of you. We know we can be stronger if the conditions were a little different.”
“If you look at it, we have spinners on the side, Theekshana too. But it negates that when nothing happens and then there is the dew, which also makes it very difficult. We can wish for it, but if we don’t understand it, we just have to continue Go ahead. That’s what we’re doing, but it takes away a key component of our attack. We have Pathirana, who is a weapon. , he added.
Meanwhile, CSK slipped to fifth place in the points table after the loss to LSG. They now have four wins and the same number of losses in IPL 2024. LSG, on the other hand, is in fourth place with five wins and three losses.