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Mumbai (India), : Ahead of his team's Indian Premier League clash against arch-rivals Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming has hinted that pacer Mathisha Pathirana may be ruled out of the much-anticipated game, though his injury is not serious.
MI and CSK will clash in the 'El Clasico' of the IPL at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. CSK is third with six points with three wins and two losses. They recorded a win against Kolkata Knight Riders in their last match. MI, on the other hand, are also gaining momentum, having won two games after losing three and are in seventh place. They had beaten Royal Challengers Bangalore in their previous match.
Both the teams have faced each other on 36 occasions with CSK victorious in 16 matches and MI taking another 20 matches.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Stephen said of Pathirana, who missed the games against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders, “It's not as bad as we thought, so we are very hopeful, if not tomorrow, then very close. We know his importance in games like this, but he is 100 per cent in this form. We'll make sure,” Fleming told reporters before the game.
The coach was full of praise for new captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, who said he was “cut from the same cloth” as Dhoni.
“No difference. That's how cool he is. I know the last captain was pretty cool. But this guy is cut from the same cloth, so it rubs off.”
Fleming, who called Gaikwad dismissive of all talk surrounding Gaikwad's “slow” strike rate, said they needed to be put into context.
“He's a very impressive young man around his game and what he needs to do. I think he's unfairly put in the bracket of calling him slow. But you have to have context for some of these stats. We know it's a bit of a Bollywood movie, but the fact that he's playing well is good for how the hero plays. I have no doubt that Rutheraj is an example,” added Fleming.
In five matches, Gaikwad has scored 155 runs at an average of 38.75 and a strike rate of 117.42 in IPL 2024. He scored just one half-century, a best score of 67*.
Fleming said that while batting in the IPL has evolved over the years, the bowlers also need help.
“Batting, in particular, has evolved at a massive rate of knots in the last five years. So now you're seeing some incredible skill. The challenge of the IPL, from a skill point of view, is how the bowlers can do it. The game has gone up a bit,” Fleming said.
“Two bouncers are one, and we have to keep looking at other ways to do that,” he said.
Fleming said his team is looking forward to this much-anticipated matchup, which has become a great rivalry due to the team's success over the years. Both the teams have won five IPL titles each and this is the most star-studded and anticipated match in years.
“We love it. We are looking forward to this match. It has developed into a really competitive rivalry over the years and it is based on two very good teams playing successful brands of cricket,” said Fleming.
“Not by design, but by results, it's worked for a couple of successful franchises that have had opportunities to push ahead of others. But look, these days every time you say you play a team it feels like a massive rivalry or massive game. So we try to keep things reasonably simple and that's part of the game process. “It's about letting go of emotion and enjoying it for what it is,” concludes Fleming.
Chennai Super Kings Squad: Rachin Ravindra, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Daryl Mitchell, Shivam Dubey, MS Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane, Sameer Rizvi, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mustafizur Rahman, Tusshar Deshpande, Mahesh Thikshan, Shaikh Raheek, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar Yesh Chaudhary, Devon Conway, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Prashant Solanki, Simarjeet Singh, RS Hungergakar, Mathisha Pathirana, Aravelli Avanish.
Mumbai Indians Squad: Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Thilak Verma, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Mohammad Nabi, Shreyas Gopal, Jasprit Bumrah, Gerald Coetzee, Akash Madhwal, Devald Brewis, Naman Dhir, Nehal Walk, Nehal Vak Desai, Piyush Chawla, Kwena Mafaka, Shams Mulani, Luke Wood, Arjun Tendulkar, Kumar Karthikeya, Shivalik Sharma, Nuwan Tushara, Anshul Kamboj.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modification to the text.
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