Rajasthan played a great home game: Fleming

Chennai Super Kings suffered their third loss in eight matches to slide down to number three in the points table after their 32-run defeat against Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Thursday, April 27. 

The visiting side conceded 202 runs in the first innings after being asked to field first by Sanju Samson. In reply, Chennai never really got going and were restricted to 170 for 6 in their quota of 20 overs.

In the post-match press conference, Stephen Fleming analysed the game and shared his thoughts on the performances of the two sides. "I thought it was a good game. Rajasthan Royals played really well. We don't like to preconceive too many ideas about how the pitch will play. This pitch was a lot different in appearance than the last one, and it played well," he said. 

"It started to get a bit slower towards the end. Rajasthan played a great home game and got out of the blocks very well. Jaiswal played great innings to create some momentum."

"We came back quite nicely in the game. We were a little bit unlucky in the last 3-4 overs, just with a few nicks, probably 16-20 runs more than what we thought. That's just how the game goes. Those extra 20 runs made it quite tough." he added. 

While there have been question marks revolving around the batting position of MS Dhoni considering his performance in the tournament, Fleming stated that the team does not like to tinker much with the process and backed the players to get the job done. 

"The set roles are very important, and Ajinkya Rahane has been great for us at No. 3. We don't mess with things that are going well. It was just today we came up against a team that took the pace off the ball. We couldn't get any real momentum in the first six overs."

"Devon Conway, who is in outstanding form, couldn't get underway. The rhythm of the innings was slow to get going. When we tried to catch the game up, we made mistakes and that's just pressure and good bowling," he said. 

The former Kiwi batter also credited Rajasthan for their fearless approach in the powerplay across innings that helped them gain two points. "In the first six overs, they were outstanding with the bat and the ball. So that really set the two innings up for them."

"We did well with Dube to create a bit of forward momentum and gave ourselves a small sniff. It was just always a few overs too far. In games like that, we were just outplayed," he concluded. 

Chennai Super Kings will lock horns against Punjab Kings in an afternoon encounter on Sunday, April 30 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.