XtraTime Web Desk: Chennai Super Kings on Friday succumbed to their third straight defeat in four matches in the ongoing IPL 2020. MS Dhoni led franchise lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad by 7 runs. It is the first time since 2014 that the Chennai based franchise lost three matches in a row.
CSK has been found wanting not being able to keep pace with required run rates and it is turning out to be a serious concern for the team management. Coach Stephen Fleming did admit the concern during his post match conference. According to Fleming, “Yeah it is a concern and you don’t want to put yourself under pressure,” Fleming said. “We do need contributions from the top four if we’re going to win this tournament. So we need to get some form from some big players at the top, we’re still backing them. It’s a case of getting into the tournament. Fourth game in is still pretty early in terms of our cycle of form but there’s no doubt the pressure is on and they’ll be feeling it a lot more than what I’m talking about.”
The former New Zealand captain turned CSK coach also admitted, “We just got a little bit loose with what we were trying to do. The last four overs in particular, they were very good and we were patchy. And we just lacked a little bit of confidence in the field. So there’s little things all-round, there’s probably a dozen runs at least that we gave up just with the overthrows or bad movement. In a tight competition, that’s going to cost us and we know that. We’ve just got to get it right, got to get a bit of confidence and a bit of game rhythm and guys in form – and that can change pretty quickly. But also, if you don’t address them, then we’ll just slide away.”