IPL 2019 | Very happy with quality of Indian players in team, says Stephen Fleming

IPL 2019 | Very happy with quality of Indian players in team, says Stephen Fleming

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Stephen Fleming has stated that he is delighted with the quality of the Indian options available in the Chennai Super Kings squad. The head coach of the Chennai-based franchise has also added that they look for balance in the playing XI and do not look to fill the overseas slots.

Chennai Super Kings have played two matches so far, one against Royal Challengers Bangalore at their home ground Chepauk, and the other one against Delhi Capitals at the Feroz Shah Kotla. In both of these matches, they have only fielded three overseas players, Shane Watson, Imran Tahir and Dwayne Bravo. Even the likes of Faf du Plessis, Sam Billings and Mitchell Santner have been forced to warm the bench. Very rarely it happens in the Indian Premier League that a team does not fill its quota of four overseas players. The CSK head coach Stephen Fleming has justified that decision by saying that the team looks for the best balance, and does not differentiate between an overseas or a local player.

"We value all the players in the squad - not as overseas or local players. Looking at the squad and skills is not based on overseas versus Indian. Harbhajan Singh was a great option for the left-handed combinations that we faced in the first two games. And that can change if you face a lot of right-handers, you've got Mitchell Santner there. But you don't have to play four overseas. Whilst in the past you've picked overseas players that fit into your side, we're really happy with the quality of Indian players that we have and that's why we tend to talk about the abilities in the squad rather than if you're an overseas player or an Indian player. We rate the players that we pick and those two sides sides were based on the best balance we thought would win the game," Fleming said, reported Cricbuzz.

South African Lungi Ngidi was expected to spearhead the team’s pace attack, but he injured himself before the start of the season, and Scott Kuggeleijn was brought in as his replacement. David Willey also pulled out citing personal reasons while Mohit Sharma has been out of action owing to an injury. Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar are the other notable pacers in the side but they also possess young pacers like Monu Kumar and KM Asif.

"We've got some good talent. Mohit Sharma is still yet to play and he's getting back from a fitness injury. We haven't got a tall, bounce bowler that Ngidi was. Kuggeleijn has got pace and the velocity of which is something different. The way the pitch is going here and the way our spinners are playing, I don't think pace is necessarily the key,” said the former New Zealand captain.

The MS Dhoni-led team has played both their matches on slow and turning pitches until now. The spinners wreaked havoc in the first match where the Royal Challengers Bangalore were bowled out for 70. The next match was also not a high scoring one as CSK were chasing a target of 148. The Chepauk has seen the score exceeding 200 for 14 times in the cash-rich league until now but the fact that it is a slow pitch assisting spinners cannot be dismissed. As a result, the CSK have ace spinners like Imran Tahir, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh and Karn Sharma in their rank.

"We bought a side based on Chennai's history, which is a slower track. What we saw the other night was an aberration, that's not normally how it is. A sort of a 160-170 score here has been what we've looked for in the past. The pitch at Delhi was fractionally slow but certainly dry. It think a variation of surface is what you're after,” said the 45-year-old.

Ten matches have been played in this edition of the league thus far, and the 200-mark has been breached twice. In Friday’s match, the Sunrisers Hyderabad chased down Rajasthan Royals target of 199 rather easily. The audience love such high scoring matches but Fleming feels that a pitch should have some challenge for the batsmen in it.

"You don't want 200 every time. People think that's the best wicket but if you ask the bowlers that's probably not a great season for them. So something that's got a little bit of challenge for the batters, which you can also get a rough par score of about 160, maybe 170, in between there, and depending on how you get it and what's on offer, that would probably be the score or conditions you're looking for if you want it to be ideal," Fleming concluded.

The Chennai Super Kings will take on the Rajasthan Royals at the MA Chidambaram Stadium today.

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