Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming on Sunday said Delhi Capitals emerged as a clear winner, having been the better team on the day. Delhi Capitals notched up their first victory of IPL 2024 when they beat defending champion Chennai Super Kings at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium. Batting first, Delhi Capitals scored 191 runs. In reply, CSK were restricted to 171 runs.
Fair result
Stephen Fleming, speaking at the post match press conference, said CSK were poor during the first six overs of each innings and paid the price dearly for leaking away too many runs.
“I think the result today is a fair reflection of the team’s play tonight. We were a little bit off tonight, we were slow to start in the first six overs of each innings. We gave away too many runs in the first six overs when we bowled. When we batted, they were very good, created pressure and used the conditions very well. There were little cameos from Warner and Pant which pushed them to a very good score,” Fleming said.
Not worried about Ruturaj
New CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad misfired with the baat once again, scoring just 1 run off two deliveries. However, Fleming said he was not worried about the new skipper/s plan. Fleming also hailed Ruturaj’s captaincy.
“Not concerned about Ruturaj Gaikwad’s batting. He is going to have ups and downs, it’s a long tournament. He wants to get rus everytime basically, but no concerns. His captaincy was very good today. The transition and the job is not easy, but he has done a seemlessly. MS is still a big part of the decision making process. And he along with Jadeja are helping Gaikwad in any way they can,” Fleming said. .
Realistic expectations
“We have played two very good matches before this one, and we know the nature of the tournament. We are very realistic. We won the first two games, but your first game away from home is a challenge and we did not really meet the expectation today,” Fleming added.
Evergreen Dhoni
Fleming also heaped praises on MS Dhoni for his batting display. Dhoni scored 37 of 16 balls but it wasn’t enough for CSK to avoid the loss.
“MS has been playing incredibly well in pre-season. He is coming back from an operation, so he is rehabing very well but his batting has been superb. Dhoni’s performance gave us a positive vibe at the end of a tough day,” Fleming said.
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