Chennai Super Kings lost its first game of the season against Rajasthan Royals by 16 runs at Sharjah on Tuesday. Team’s head coach Stephen Fleming reacted after the loss and also praised Faf du Plessis for his valiant knock of 72 runs off 37 balls.
Plessis batted alongside the skipper MS Dhoni and added a partnership of 67 runs for the 8th wicket and also brought some life to chase.
The South African batsman dispatched seven sixes and one four in his knock but unfortunately got out in the 19th over. Du Plessis had played a match-winning knock against Mumbai Indians by scoring and unbeaten 58 runs off 44 balls.
CSK were without Ambati Rayudu and Dwayne Bravo due to their injuries but du Plessis ensured the intrepid fight. Stephen Fleming has now hinted that the in-form South African batsman could open the innings from the next match.
“Yeah maybe keeping in mind we had a couple of injuries, like Ambati Rayudu today just before we left for the game. So we had to shuffle a little bit but it’s early days. So we are just finding out how to drive this car,” Fleming told ANI in a press conference.
MS Dhoni promoted Sam Curran, Kedar Jadhav and Ruturaj Gaikwad who failed in the middle order. Dhoni came in to bat late during the chase and got lesser overs to play and hence lost the match by 16 runs in the end.
“We were expecting good things. MS (Dhoni) is a specialist towards the end of the inning, always has been. Curran was there to keep us ahead in the game. He has good hitting power and it was just the first game for Ruturaj,” Fleming said.
“We just wanted to be aggressive. We got a long batting order and just try to use our resources smartly,” he added.
CSK will now meet Delhi Capitals on September 25 in their next IPL matchup in Dubai.
