Chennai Super Kings (CSK) made a winning start to their campaign in IPL 2020 by defeating defending champions Mumbai Indians in their opening game of the season. However, it all went haywire from there as CSK went on to lose three games on the trot before bouncing back to winning ways on Sunday. CSK hammered Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) by 10 wickets to register their second win of the season.
Openers Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis made light work of the 179-run chase with unbeaten half-centuries apiece. The duo posted an unbeaten stand of 181 runs for the first wicket – a record opening partnership for CSK in IPL history. While Watson returned to form with a cracking 53-ball 83, Du Plessis continued his purple patch with 87 off 53 deliveries.
While Watson and Du Plessis were tormenting the KXIP bowlers during their run chase on Sunday, CSK head coach Stephen Fleming caught up with the commentators for a brief interview. During the chat, Sunil Gavaskar joked with Fleming about the continuous questions he has been receiving in every press conference about MS Dhoni’s batting position in the CSK line-up.
“If you win this game without losing a wicket there will be no discussions on Dhoni’s batting order, isn’t it?” – Gavaskar joked with Fleming. The CSK head coach came up with a cheeky response and said he might still be asked why Dhoni was not sent out to open the innings. Fleming added that he is now prepared for such questions in every press conference.
“It (Question) will still come up maybe he should have batted at 1. I am prepared for it every time I have a press conference but it will a nice situation to have it yes,” said Fleming.
