IPL 2020: Stephen Fleming reveals Dwayne Bravo out for couple of games, lauds Sam Curran and Ambati Rayudu
Stephen Fleming, the head coach of Chennai Super Kings, said that Dwayne Bravo is likely to be unavailable for their second game too after missing out on the opener due to a knee injury.
In Short
- Sam Curran's performance today was outstanding: Fleming
- Ambati Rayudu has been nothing short of fantastic: Fleming
- Dwayne Bravo is out for a couple of games: Fleming
Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming was full of praises for Sam Curran and Ambati Rayudu after CSK defeated reigning champions Mumbai Indians by 5 wickets in the opening match of IPL 2020 on Saturday.
Ambati Rayudu scored a 48-ball 71 whereas Sam Curran registered match figures of 1/28 and then played a cameo scoring a six-ball 18 to help Chennai Super Kings chase down a target of 163 vs Mumbai Indians.
Praising the players, Fleming said, "Sam Curran's performance today was outstanding... Rayudu has been nothing short of fantastic and again today he turned the game around. His experience and skill set played a major part in our win today."
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Fleming also revealed that star Windies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo won't be available for the next two CSK games. Bravo was not a part of the Chennai Super Kings 5-wicket win in the IPL 2020 opener against Mumbai Indians.
"Dwayne Bravo is out for a couple of games," Fleming said in the post-match presser. Bravo didn't bowl in the CPL final on September 10 either because of his knee injury.
Fleming said that playing behind closed doors without fans was indeed 'strange' but added that the 'Yellow Army' manage to cope with the situation and beat their arch-rivals from Mumbai.
"It was strange for a lot of us to play in front of no crowd, especially when you got two teams like these who were last season's finalists. I think we coped with it pretty well and players were really focused on what they did," Fleming said in the post-match press conference.
It was an all-round effort from Chennai Super Kings who gunned down a total of 163 with ease, thanks to fifties from Ambati Rayudu and Faf du Plessis after a horror start that saw them losing openers Shane Watson and Murali Vijay inside the 1st 2 overs.