Fleming throws weight behind Ruturaj Gaikwad amidst poor returns

Stephen Fleming, the head coach of Chennai Super Kings, defended his team's captain, Ruturaj Gaikwad, who has been enduring a poor run in the ongoing Indian Premier League. With 63 runs in five innings, Gaikwad has the lowest aggregate, average (12.60), and strike rate (105) among openers who have batted at least thrice this season.

"He's going fine," Fleming assured ahead of CSK's encounter against Sunrisers Hyderabad. "He hasn't had the returns that he would like, and he's working hard on that. But that can be the nature of T20. He's training well, he's hitting the ball well, he has a positive mindset, he just hasn't got away yet.

"But we've seen over the years that he's a quality player," he added. "And if we can cover for him for a few games and he comes into form, then that's the way an IPL can go. Very rarely someone dominates the whole way through, but if we have players coming in and out of form and they dovetail, then that's a good thing. But he's working hard and he's got a lot of support around him."

The upcoming encounter at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium offers an opportunity for Gaikwad to find form. On a surface which has usually enabled high-scoring games, against a fairly inexperienced attack, the opportunity is ripe for the opener.

However, CSK would not want to miss out on cashing in on a good start. With most of SRH's senior pacers unable to trouble opposition batters, the hosts had to hand debuts to two pacers in their previous match. The move paid off, with both Sakib Hussain and Praful Hinge bagging four wickets apiece. While the SRH-CSK encounter is also set to take place on the same surface, CSK would hope to ensure that there isn't a repeat performance from the pace duo.

Fleming did not deny reports of Ayush Mhatre being considered as an opening option, but stated that they will continue to back the skipper to come good. "We talk about everything, so we're always looking at different ways. You get to back your captain to the hilt, and Rutu's form will come good. He's too good a player not to contribute in this line-up," Fleming said.

The CSK head coach stated that the two victories in the last two games has offered much needed confidence to his players, but stated that they will have to put their best foot forward in order to extend the winning run and move to the top half of the points table.

"The two wins were much needed," he said. "We talked about getting a bit of confidence and some evidence. We were a new group getting together, so we were desperate to get the first win. So to get two in a row is great. But we've still got a lot of work to do, we know that, and this is a tough fixture for us. We've had some tough battles and tough games here in the last few years, so we know we're going to have to be at our best again."