Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming feels a change in mindset and personnel after the poor show in IPL 2020 in UAE has helped CSK do better in this edition of Indian Premier League. After Wednesday's 18-run win against Kolkata Knight Riders, Fleming said CSK did better than expected in the Mumbai-leg of IPL 2021. With three wins from four matches, CSK are among the top three teams in the tournament. (Video and images from BCCI)
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00:00 Before the season, what were your expectations from Mumbai? You played most number of matches here in Mumbai with Mike. It's not a wicket that helps your bowlers particularly.
00:25 What was your target from this venue and have you managed to get it with 3 out of 4 so far?
00:32 And also a quick word on Chardul Thakur. He came in with good form but hasn't really found his rhythm yet.
00:38 So we deal with Mumbai first. We learnt a lot about ourselves from Abu Dhabi and Dubai. I think I've said it's very hard when you're so conditioned to play a certain style to have to do 180 and start playing completely different. That was a challenge we had last year. I was really satisfied with the way we finished the tournament off and a lot of the things that we learnt. We had to add some personnel and get some players back and we did that. But in saying that, we still have to keep working on the style of play.
01:07 That has been the focus in pre-season, knowing that five games can certainly have a big impact on the IPL. So a very big focus on making sure we assess the conditions here and they've been quite unique. It's very hard to know what you're going to get day in and day out. So we've done that pretty well.
01:25 And yes, I'd say three out of four has probably exceeded expectations. We felt maybe three out of five or even if we got a couple would be good. And look at other areas where our old traditional game would stand up. But I'm very proud with the way the batting in particular is standing up. That's two 190s and a 220. So we're playing well in that department and that's by design, which is good.
01:49 Shardul, yes, this game can be a little bit brutal. He today was pretty good. He took over the death Yorkers that they would see from Bravo. And even though the game was hectic, there was still an element of control there. Execution is very hard when you've got hitters like Russell and Kartik and Cummings at the end to keep delivering that. But I thought he was good tonight.
02:10 Last year, the CSK was struggling with the middle and lower order batting and able to go big in the last hours. And this year, like you said, you have been consistently hitting 190, 200. How did that shift happen? Just the addition of Mohinelli and Suresh Jaina or thinking as well?
02:34 It's a change in attitude and also personnel. It's probably both of those things. Just making sure that we have a lot of batting that you can play a high risk game and that gives confidence. You might not use the players like today, but it gives confidence for the players to play a certain way. And we felt we were a little bit thin last year to play a high risk game. So we were a little bit conservative.
02:57 But once again, we were coming out of Chennai where, as you've seen, a 150-160 score is very adequate. So we had to really swivel around and change. And more attitude than anything. And this year, I think we've added some players that have made a difference already. But the attitude is probably the number one thing. So a real mind shift.
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