We don't want to risk him, says Stephen Fleming on Shane Watson not bowling in the IPL

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) lost their recent match against Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium played on April 3, 2019. The home team wonderfully defended a modest target of 170 which was made thanks to efforts of Suryakumar Yadav, who made a fifty and Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard’s death over heroics.

CSK’s batting couldn’t get going in the chase and MI bowlers continued to pick wickets at regular intervals to hit them badly. Even coach Stephen Fleming admitted that it was a clumsy effort from his side and there were some things that the Men in Yellow wanted to improve, while also saying that with the team they have, somethings have to be compromised with.

CSK short on foreign fast bowling options

The first thing that Stephen Fleming admitted was that the team was short of foreign fast bowlers given that David Willey and Lungi Ngidi were ruled of the tournament. Fleming said that they have brought in Scott Kuggeleijn, but he had just come in and hence they included Mohit Sharma in the team to strengthen the bowling side.

On being asked by the reporters about Shane Watson not bowling anymore, Fleming cleared that he is playing as a specialist batsman in the team and doesn’t want to risk the Australian this season. “Watson hasn’t bowled for quite a while. He hasn’t bowled in the Big Bash League through. He’s pretty much playing for us as a specialist batsman. His body is such that it would be a risk to bowl him.

“We think he’s valuable at the top. He was the top run-scorer in Pakistan [Super League]. I think he bowled only one over because he had to. So, he hasn’t bowled for some time. And we don’t want to risk him through this tournament, especially when we’ve got six good bowling options anyway,” Fleming was quoted as saying by ESPN Cricinfo. CSK will next face the Kings XI Punjab in Chennai on Saturday.

[interaction id=”5ca4ad9a9e0a6652c4bea875″]

Get the latest Cricket News and updates from the Indian Premier League, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.