IPL 2018 | Chris Gayle made a big difference, says Stephen Fleming

IPL 2018 | Chris Gayle made a big difference, says Stephen Fleming

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By SportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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After being picked in the last round of the IPL auctions, Chris Gayle made his IPL comeback against CSK and Stephen Fleming called him the main difference maker in Punjab's win yesterday. Gayle scored 63 runs off 33 deliveries and despite Dhoni’s heroics at the end KXIP won the game by four runs.

Batting first in Mohali, KXIP posted a total of 197 on the board, courtesy of a mini-storm from Gayle. CSK head coach Daniel Fleming appreciated the innings from Gayle and acknowledged that it made all the difference. Having scored 75 runs in the powerplay, Punjab looked like they would easily cross the 200-run barrier, but CSK did incredibly well to restrict the opposition below 200 and the bowler's efforts were not lost on their coach. 

"So the character for the second half of that bowling innings was very good as we were able to get some wickets, create some pressure. So, I am really impressed and proud of the effort," said the former New Zealand captain.

Fleming also gave his insights on chasing stating that batting seconds had some advantages over batting first. According to him, chasing helps in taking calculated risks and has a certainty attached to it. He gave the example of Dhoni as to how he managed his innings throughout the chase. 

"When you are chasing you get certainty in an uncertain game, so you can manage your risk as you saw MS managing his risk almost to perfection today. There were couple of good yorkers from Mohit Sharma (in the final over) that denied the win (to CSK). So the way game is going, there is certainty around managing risk and the ability of players to hit and chase down 15, 16 and 18 runs an over," Fleming explained. 

Having lost the first match of the season, Fleming believes that wickets at the top are important. Chennai did have to pay a heavy price for not picking up wickets upfront and they were hammered all over the ground by Gayle and Rahul. 

On being asked about his view on the upcoming games, CSK coach said, "I'd love a game where we bowl a team out for 140 and chase it down. But the competition is very even. Wickets at the top are important, we have seen teams that take wickets at the top, so we are going to reassess that and make sure we've got the right combination." 

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