Missing out on playoffs of IPL 2022 will be the catalyst for next year: Stephen Fleming
Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming felt optimistic about coming back stronger in the next IPL season after finishing ninth in the points table of IPL 2022. The Men in Yellow could manage just four wins in 14 games and ended their campaign this year with a defeat against the Rajasthan Royals in their final game of the season by five wickets. Moeen Ali’s 93 off 57 balls went in vain as none of the other batters got going and CSK ended up with a total of just 150 despite a terrific start.
The Royals chased down the score comfortably with two balls left on the back of Yashasvi Jaiswal’s (59) half-century and a good finish from Ravi Ashwin (40*). Such has been the season for CSK that they paid heavily by going all out for Deepak Chahar in the mega auction, who did not play a single game of IPL 2022 due to his injury. Mukesh Choudhary was impressive, but the lack of form from Ravindra Jadeja, alongside inconsistency from Ruturaj Gaikwad at the top, did not help the cause.
Understanding what new players can do can take a little bit of time: Stephen Fleming
Fleming revealed the difficulties behind starting to build a cycle with a new group of players and noted the challenges of sticking with their method that had been successful over the years. He also felt that the new group will take time to adjust and felt that early wins could have kept them in the hunt towards the back end of the tournament. He concluded about coming back strong next year due to the effect of a poor season this year.
“When you start a new cycle, when you have a number of new players. It can be testing. We suffered from catastrophic success. So just trying to play the same way and continue on for my last four years which were very successful is a real challenge. So dropping back and understanding what new players can do can take a little bit of time,” Stephen Fleming told the press after CSK’s last league game.
“What we didn’t have was a couple of form players that got us through those early days. So you get a couple of wins and then you get a little bit of evidence that the team’s on the right track and then the young players get a bit of confidence from the senior players doing well. So that’s the cycle. We had a slow start and we just weren’t able to string enough games together.”
“We had opportunities. There’s no doubt we had opportunities to do better than what we did. But the reality is we weren’t good enough to make the semi-finals this year, and that’s always a catalyst for next year,” he added.
