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Fleming comes out in Dhoni’s defense, cites conditions for batting slowdown

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Chennai Super Kings have now lost two matches in a row and that has brought the performances of key players under speculation. When both the openers lost their wickets early, the responsibility of scoring a winning total fell on middle-order batters. Except Ambati Rayadu, who played an inning of 55 runs, nobody in the middle order could play up to the expectations. Robin Uthappa, Moeen Ali, and captain MS Dhoni failed to accelerate on time, as CSK scored 136 in 20 overs and lost the match by 3 wickets. 

However, coach Stephen Fleming felt that the slowdown in CSK’s batting was not due to lack of intent, rather it was the conditions that restricted the batters. "Well, he [Dhoni] wasn't the only one who struggled, it was a difficult day for stroke play. When 137 [136] is almost enough, I think it was a tough wicket to score big on in terms of the big shots. So both teams struggled with that towards the end of the innings. Sometimes you set your sights too high, [want] too many, and probably we were only 10-15 runs short of having a match-winning score,” Fleming said. 

Although, as CSK has already qualified for the playoffs, these performances may not hurt them here, but they will remain a matter of concern for the CSK management as defeats in the playoff round will be irreparable.  

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