Chennai: Half the IPL battle is normally won at auction table, but in case of Chennai Super Kings, the seeds of their struggles this season were sown on that very evening in Jeddah many months ago, when they failed to get the best assortment of players.
Long-time head coach Stephen Fleming admitted that it has led to an unmitigated disaster in the ongoing edition of the league.
The CSK’s template of going for the tried and tested players has backfired, with the team languishing at the bottom of the points table, having lost seven out of nine games.
“It’s hard to say. We got it completely right with the performances that we’ve had. So we have been looking over that in detail, just around our style of play. Also, looking at how the game is evolving, and it’s not easy.
“And that’s why we’re proud of our record today, that we’ve been able to be consistent for so long. And it doesn’t take much for it to go another way,” Fleming said after losing to Sunrisers Hyderabad here on Friday, initially trying hard to defend the team.
But then there was acceptance that they might have missed a trick or two.
“Other teams have got better, and that’s the point of the auction. But we just haven’t been able to get it right. So you take responsibility from the top down, and you just ask a little bit more of the players.
“But yeah, that has to be an area where we need to reflect and say it wasn’t as good as what it could have been, or it hasn’t worked out how we wanted.
“But it’s also not a perfect science. The auction is a very fluid beast. It’s like buying 25 houses, so you come away at the end of it mentally and sometimes physically exhausted. And to be fair, I still think we’ve got a good squad. We’re not far away,” he said, putting up a brave front.
Players like Rahul Tripathi, Deepak Hooda, Vijay Shankar have been super flops and CSK’s reluctance to try out new talents at the start of the tournament cost them dear.
At the back end, youngsters such as Ayush Mhatre, Shaik Rasheed and Dewald Brevis are showing promise for the next season.
Fleming also agreed that they probably need to have a closer look at their style of play, after his initial reluctance.
Injury to skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad and trying out as many as 19 players to get the right combination also contributed to their dismal show.
Being the team’s key strategist, Fleming admitted that the buck stops with him.
“A couple of key injuries, just a bit of a lack of form. And we’ve just struggled really to nail a game plan. Chopped and changed too much, but I think he was trying to look for something that perhaps we felt wasn’t there.
“So yeah, there’s a lot of responsibility in soul-searching, and it certainly starts with me at the top, 100% per cent.”
