Head coach Stephen Fleming and a member of Chepauk’s ground crew walked to the match surface immediately following CSK’s 50-run defeat against RCB after the handshakes were completed. Five days prior, CSK defeated the Mumbai Indians on the adjacent surface thanks to 25 overs of spin-dictated terms. This time, the game was completely changed by seam, bounce, and two-paced deliveries.
“Well, as we’ve been telling you for a number of years, there was no home advantage at Chepauk,” an unusually terse Fleming said after CSK’s biggest home defeat. “We’ve won away from home a couple of times. And we haven’t been able to read… we’ve been really honest with you. We haven’t been able to read the wickets here in the last couple of years. So, it’s not new. We are trying to come to grips each day with what we get, and we don’t know.”
Playing three frontline spinners as part of their team-building approach was based on the fact that home conditions favored turn. However, after only two games, such reasoning has been questioned. “It’s not the Chepauk [of old] where you can just go in and play four spinners,” Fleming said. “We’re having to work really hard to try and understand what the nature of each pitch is, and it’s quite different.”
CSK anticipated that dew would help them reach 196 on Friday. Rather, the pitch merely become more tacky. “No, we didn’t get it right,” asserted Fleming. We expected it would slip on with the dew, but it actually got a little tacky. It’s really difficult to read. Thus, it undoubtedly made things more difficult here.
Ruturaj Gaikwad, the captain, agreed. “I continue to believe that 170 was a reasonable score for this wicket. At the post-match presentation, he stated, “It wasn’t that easy to bat.” “You have a little more time when you’re chasing 170, but you have to bat differently in the PowerPlay when you’re chasing 20 additional runs, and that didn’t happen today. It became somewhat sticky and sluggish. There was some sticking of the new ball. I have no idea how it occurred. I backed my shot, and Rahul backed his. It works sometimes and doesn’t work other times.
RCB’s top order made sure their total over par as CSK struggled with the bat. Virat Kohli’s relatively scratchy performance was counterbalanced by aggressive knocks from Phil Salt, Devdutt Padikkal, and Rajat Patidar. During a 45-run opening stand, Salt in particular got off to a scorching start, hitting 32 off 16.
“I think it’s been made very clear to me why I’m here at RCB and what they were looking for in the auction to partner with Virat,” Salt said. “So the dynamics of the partnership I’m very aware of, and it’s to be aggressive and to take the pressure off the rest of the guys.
“Especially when you come somewhere like here, if you don’t take advantage of those early seam overs, then you can be left up against it when the spin comes on and they can really take control of the game. So it was very key here and that was spoken about, yeah.”
Salt also praised skipper Patidar, who led his bowling attack to RCB’s first Chepauk victory over CSK in 17 years after using luck to smash 51 off 32. “I think he’s brilliant in all areas if I’m being honest with you,” Salt stated. “The batting is among the greatest in the area, in my opinion. He can hit spin like no one I’ve ever seen.
“Obviously, he rode his luck a little bit tonight, but that’s the game. You get that in patches. I’ve not seen anyone hit the ball like him off spinners. Especially some of those slower balls that he hit for six, it was unbelievable. Then you come to his captaincy and he’s a cool head. He’s very calm under pressure. He’s got a very good cricket brain. He thinks about the game very deeply. As I’ve already said, the way that he spun the bowlers around tonight to make sure that we were keeping pressure on them at all times, there’s not much more you can ask for.”
