We lost wickets at key times, says CSK’s coach Fleming

Delhi Daredevils managed to fight out a surprising victory against Chennai Super Kings in its penultimate game on Friday night and all-rounder Harshal Patel, one of the key architects of the win, admitted the team wasn’t exactly thinking of the result at the start of the game.

“We had a strategic time-out in the 16th over and thought if we could get 140, it would be a fighting total. But the way Vijay (Shankar) and I batted the last three overs was really special,” the man of the match said.

“160 was definitely not a winning total but we knew if we fielded well we had a good chance,” he added.

DD seemed to have learnt from its mistakes from the previous games as well, not being too experimental. “We made the mistake of bowling too fast and too full in the last two games, didn’t want to repeat that and just stick to what we do well.

“The wicket also didn’t get too better in the second innings despite the dew, the ball wasn’t coming on to the bat like it did in the last two games,” Harshal said.

CSK coach Stephen Fleming concurred, saying he was satisfied with the bowling but his team lost the match with the bat.

“We failed to get a partnership of substance that brought the slowness of the wicket into play. We couldn’t get any momentum going and they bowled pretty well,” said Fleming.

“When you lose wickets chasing a medium total it is always hard to score, starting an innings becomes difficult. It was a close game but we weren’t in it after the first 10 overs. Once we started losing wickets and fell behind, we just couldn’t get going,” Fleming said.

Asked about CSK’s continued struggles with death-over bowling, Fleming insisted it was part of the game.

“Most teams have had problems in death overs, not just us. The game before (Dwayne) Bravo helped us restrict a 200 total to 180, it’s just the nature of the game. I am pretty happy with the bowling to be honest, we just lost wickets at key times chasing,” he added.

The scores: Delhi Daredevils 162 for five in 20 overs (R. Pant 38, Vijay Shankar 36 n.o., Harshal Patel 36 n.o., Lungi Ngidi two for 14) bt Chennai Super Kings 128 for six in 20 overs (A. Rayudu 50, R. Jadeja 27 n.o., Trent Boult two for 20, Amit Mishra two for 20).