IPL 2020: Fleming jumps to Jadhav's defence

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Bengaluru, October 8: Pilloried by all and sundry for sending Kadhar Jadhav ahead of the likes of Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo against Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming jumped to his defence saying he backed the middle-order batsman's ability to play spin.

In Match 21 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday (October 7) night, chasing KKR's modest score of 167, CSK fell short by 10 runs.

CSK management's decision to send Jadhav ahead of Jadeja and Bravo in a tense run chase was criticised by many as the India batsman laboured to seven off 12 balls.

"At the time, we thought that Kedar could play the spinner well and dominate, while Jadeja was there to come and finish. But in the end there was too much work to do and we fell short," Fleming said at the press-match conference.

Jadhav was heavily trolled heavily on social media following the defeat with some CSK fans even going to the extent of creating petitions to drop him from the playing XI.

The former New Zealand captain rued that their batsmen let it slip despite having so much resources. The team added just 14 runs from 11-14 overs, a period when they lost both Shane Watson and an in-form Ambati Rayudu.

"If we could've got one of those players to 75-plus and continued that partnership for another maybe four or five overs, the game might have been a lot different," Fleming added.

CSK do not have much time to recoup as the much-hyped southern derby against Royal Challengers Bangalore is up next for them on Saturday (October 10).

While backing Jadhav to the hilt, Fleming hopes his team his team has enough batting resources to pull things around.

"We've got so much batting resources. Kedar is a late middle to late batter for India. We could've gone a whole lot of different ways. Today Kedar had some balls but that didn't work out.

"You always put players in different areas and that's just when you've so much batting talent to choose from. It's one of the things we look at, but it's all in hindsight."

(With inputs from Agencies)