Stephen Fleming not concerned by Chennai Super Kings’ bowling

On three occasions in IPL 2018, the opposition has managed to go past the 200-run mark against Chennai Super Kings, but coach Stephen Fleming isn’t worried

Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming on Wednesday stated that he wasn’t worried with his side’s bowling unit despite it leaking runs in almost every match so far in the season. Barring just one game against Rajasthan Royals (140), the least that Chennai Super Kings have conceded so far is 165, while on three occasions the opposition has managed to go past the 200-run mark. (RCB v CSK HIGHLIGHTS)

Despite Chennai Super Kings conceding a lot of runs in their IPL 2018 campaign so far, coach Stephen Fleming has refused to blame his bowlers. (AFP)

Fleming, however, was happier with the fact that his side has managed to scale down those totals, albeit it took a lot from finishers like MS Dhoni, Dwayne Bravo, Shane Watson and Ambati Rayudu to help them cross the finishing line. (RCB v CSK HSCORECARD)

“I don’t think we bowled too badly but AB de took the game away from us. So, just as good as Dhoni is at the death, AB through that top and middle was superb. He counted what we had today and I thought we hung in there pretty well,” the former Kiwi skipper said. “You could bowl a lot worse than what we did today. We asked some questions and the answers were emphatic from de Villiers and de Kock so they had no problems with that. I would like to bowl out teams for 130-140 but if we’re chasing down the scores that they get, it suggests that we’re doing ok.”

He also heaped praise on Dhoni (34-ball 70) and Rayudu (53-ball 82) who rescued the side from a precarious situation at one point to steer them to victory. At one point, CSK required 99 from seven overs and they did so with two balls to spare.

“Having seen it (Dhoni finishing off games) so many times, the expectations just get so high. Some of the shots he played tonight (was incredible). He (never) ceases to amaze. In this IPL, his batting has been exceptional,” Fleming added before saying, “Dhoni’s going to get a lot of the headlines but the innings from Rayudu was outstanding as well. He’s been the in-form player for us in all conditions and has followed on from the Hyderabad game with another instrumental knock. We’ve got across the line and it’s a becoming a habit which is great.”