CHENNAI: Chennai
Super Kings coach
Stephen Fleming
on Tuesday said
that he was
surprised to see
his in the middle
stage of the
Indian Premier
League (IPL)
standings.
"The team that
wins (Wednesday)
goes top four, top five spot. It's
unusual for us, usually scrapping
around in the middle stage. We'll
be trying to get a game here and
there. But (this situation) can
change very quickly, we've got to
maintain the standard," Fleming
said on the eve of their match
against Rajasthan Royals.
"Certainly at home, we don't take
anything for granted. We've had
four wins (so far). We've had
scraps in each one of those and
the last one was a real scrap.
That just keep reminding us how
well we have to play and give
respect to your opponent. We
won't be taking our foot off the
pedal for the rest of the
tournament." he added.
With the ball turning in the last
few games, Fleming was asked
how much of a threat Shane
Warne would be. "There hasn't
been excessive turn. If you see
the last game, (DC) they could've
got 160. There wasn't excessive
turn. There were stages in the
game where it looked like there
was some big turn. It tends to
flight now, the last couple of
games. "Certainly from a fielding
point of view, we could've done
more."
Assessing his opponents,
Fleming said, "They've got an all-
round option in Shane Watson
and then with Warne and Botha,
they have a couple of good
spinners. It's gonna be an
interesting match-up, the teams
are a bit similar in the bowling
department.
""But we expect our top order,
which is yet again in good form,
get a score on the board or
chase a score down. Conditions
are still hard to rate, it could be a
180 plus or 170. We expect the
conditions to be similar to the
one we played in, but we're still
very wary," he said.
The former New Zealand skipper
said he was not surprised by
Botha's performance.
"I am not surprised at all by
Botha. He's been a good
campaigner for South Africa. He's
captained their T20 side. I'm not
surprised by his batting, I've
seen quite a lot of it over the
years and he's a good
competitor. He's a handy bowler,
so he's a good acquisition for
Shane."