Chennai crush Punjab by seven wickets and ensure number one spot in points table table
Mohali : Having registered a convincing seven-wicket win over bottom-placed Kings XI Punjab to finish at the top of the IPL table, Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming feels that his team needs to maintain the same “attitude” in the play-offs as well.
Chennai crush Punjab by seven wickets and ensure number one spot in points table table.
The clinical win came on the back of a disciplined all-round show and Fleming, when asked if there was any area which CSK would like to work on going into the playoffs, said, “just attitude, we have to try and keep raising the bar.”
“We have been here before, which is great, but we also like to win, hopefully. I mean to do that you have to keep getting better and the teams (other sides) I think, have been very even this year and whoever gets through to play us, its going to be a tough game.
“And we talked about it earlier how fine line it is between being last in the competition and the first. When you get down to two or three games in the finals, little things can count, so its just attitude really and we were awful in the last game but the attitude today was great, so try and replicate that in the next game will be the focus for us,” he added.
After their bowlers restricted KXIP to 130 in 20 overs, CSK batsmen, Faf du Plessis (55), Suresh Raina (41 not out) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (25 not out), ensured that the team does not falter.
Asked about today’s game, the former New Zealand captain, said, “we played well today, I think we got the conditions just right. We always wanted to bowl first, we were vary about the power of Kings XI and we found chasing against them is a good tactic.
“We were not surprised, but we thought that the pitch was dry and we knew using our spinners was going to be possible advantage. And they bowled very well both (Pawan) Negi and (Ravichandran) Ashwin in particular bowled very well and backed up by very good fielding.”
“We were playing for one or two spot in the IPL finals…so we are happy with the way we went about it,” he added.
On the loss of CSK openers early in the chase, Fleming said, “being 10 for two at one stage is a little bit on edge, but good partnership helped…all in all a very professional performance which we are pleased to have put in and also gives us confidence going into the finals.”
Remind Fleming of the no-fear attitude of KXIP that the coach had talked about in the pre-match presser and he was relieved that it did not come to the fore.
“Thankfully not. Its good players we took care of, good to get rid of Maxwell, Bailey and an excellent catch to get rid of Miller, so three overseas players who play well and then we put pressure on the local players.
“When you take wickets regularly, teams are never able to get out of pressure and play with that no fear attitude, so we were right on the button from ball one today. Thankfully, we did not allow any of their big players to get into the game which was one of our key target. —PTI
Punjab
W Saha c McCullum b Negi……………………………..15
M Vohra c Nehra b Pandey………………………………..4
G Bailey c Dhoni b Nehra………………………………..12
G Maxwell b Jadeja…………………………………………6
G Singh st Dhoni b Ashwin……………………………..15
D Miller c Jadeja b Negi………………………………….11
A Patel c Dhoni b Bravo………………………………….32
R Dhawan not out…………………………………………25
B Hendricks not out…………………………………………1
Extras: (b4, lb2, w3)………………………………………9
Total: For 7 wickets in 20 overs…………………….130
Bowling: Negi 4-0-25-2, Pandey 3-0-22-1, Nehra 2-0-9-1, Ashwin 4-0-14-1, Jadeja 3-0-18-1, Raina 1-0-8-0, Bravo 2-0-20-1.
Chennai
M Hussey c Saha b S Sharma…………………………….1
B McCullum b Hendricks…………………………………..6
F du Plessis b Dhawan……………………………………55
S Raina not out……………………………………………..41
MS Dhoni not out………………………………………….25
Extras: (w6)………………………………………………….6
Total: For 3 wickets in 16.5 overs………………….134
Bowling: S Sharma 2-0-9-1, Hendricks 3-0-25-1, Gurkeerat 3-0-22-0, R Dhawan 2-0-12-1, Maxwell 1-0-8-0, A Patel 3-0-28-0, Anureet 2.5-0-30-0.
