IPL 2020: CSK head coach Stephen Fleming reveals why Kedar Jadhav was sent ahead of Jadeja and Bravo

Chennai Super Kings (CSK), continuing their inconsistent trail in the on-going IPL 2020, suffered another loss on Wednesday as they suffered a 10-run defeat against Dinesh Karthik-led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at Abu Dhabi. Despite bowling out KKR for a modest total of 167, MS Dhoni’s men suffered a batting debacle during the latter part of their run-chase.

Chennai added just 14 runs from 11-14 overs, a period when they lost both Shane Watson and an in-form Ambati Rayudu. Kedar Jadhav, who was sent ahead of the likes of Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo, was heavily trolled on social media for his sluggish seven off 12 deliveries.

Following CSK’s defeat, their head coach Stephen Fleming has revealed why Jadhav was sent up the batting order in the tense run-chase. Fleming also rued that CSK’s batting unit let it ‘slip’ after the departure of the Watson-Rayudu duo.

We feel disappointed that we let it slip: Stephen Fleming

“At the time, we thought that Kedar could play the spinner well and dominate, while Jadeja was there to come and finish. But in the end, there was too much work to do and we fell short,” said Fleming at the press-match conference.

“If we could have got one of those players to 75-plus and continued that partnership for another maybe four or five overs, the game might have been a lot different. Kolkata hung in there long enough to put pressure on us and we just couldn’t accelerate. We feel disappointed that we let it slip,” he added.

In the absence of their vice-captain Suresh Raina, CSK are finding it hard to stitch a partnership in the middle, especially while chasing on UAE wickets. After witnessing Chennai’s yet another middle-order failure, Fleming said they have a well-balanced side. Fleming pointed out that CSK have plenty of batting resources but their ploy failed to work against Kolkata’s bowling unit.

“But the performances like today, with the experience we have got, we should have put it away. We have got a lot of batsmen anyway so the balance is very good with the six bowlers. I don’t think an extra batsman is going to help,” said the New Zealander.

“We’ve got so much batting resources. Kedar is a late middle to late batter for India. We could have gone a whole lot of different ways. Today Kedar had some balls but that didn’t work out. You always put players in different areas and that’s just when you have so much batting talent to choose from. It’s one of the things we look at, but it’s all in hindsight,” he added.