Ahead of its first home game of the 11th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Chennai Super Kings (CSK) assistant coach Michael Hussey pointed out that they need to figure out the way to improve their middle order and fielding. With Kedar Jadhav ruled out, Hussey said that CSK has the bench strength to replace him but still the top four has to score runs and bat deep, despite the fact that Davi Willery will be replacing team had depth in the reserves to fill his shoes but also pointed out that the onus on the top four to score runs is high.
Talking about the team, Hussey said, “The players at the top of the order, Nos. 1-4, need to take the responsibility to try and score the bulk of the runs. That’s certainly the focus of the team going forward, to play some smart cricket at the top and then try to keep some good partnerships in the middle-order.”
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While talking about the improvements in the fielding, the CSK assistant coach said that the team is not going to be the most athletic considering the presence of players who are aging above 30. However, he added that the experience they bring in could make the difference between winning and losing in T20.
Michael pointed out the experience of the veteran cricketers in the team, he said, “The flip side of that is, perhaps we’re not going to be the most nimble or dynamic team in the field. But we can still be smart in the field. Even if the ball goes to one section of the ground, we want players in other sections moving into areas to help out.”
Teams:
CSK: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain & WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina, Kedar Jadhav, Dwayne Bravo, Karn Sharma, Shane Watson, Shardul Thakur, Ambati Rayudu, Murali Vijay, Harbhajan Singh, Faf Du Plessis, Mark Wood, Sam Billings, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, Lungisani Ngidi, K.M. Asif, N. Jagadeesan, Kanishk Seth, Monu Singh, Dhruv Shorey, Kshitiz Sharma, Chaitanya Bishnoi.
KKR: Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Chris Lynn, Dinesh Karthik (Captain & WK), Robin Uthappa, Kuldeep Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Nitish Rana, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Mitchell Johnson, Shubman Gill, Vinay Kumar, Rinku Singh, Cameron Delport, Javon Searles, Apoorv Wankhade, Ishank Jaggi, Tom Curran.
