Retaining players was the key: FlemingMonday, Jan 31 2011By Stephen Fleming
(Coach, Chennai Super Kings)
As I sit in Bangalore airport waiting for my flight back to New Zealand, I get the chance to reflect on what has been an amazing couple of days. I must confess the whole experience has become a bit of a blur with players names, stats and budgets being the order of the weekend that also involved planning each session, targeting each player, the thrill of the chase and finally the buy with the resounding thump of the auctioneer’s hammer.
I have to say I am delighted with the team we have been able to put together. We made no secret of the fact we wanted to keep as many of our players as possible and if able to strengthen other areas to make us a competitive side in all conditions.
I think we have managed that and whilst disappointed to lose Murali (Muttiah Muralitharan) and Bala (Lakshmipathy Balaji), we must congratulate them on commanding such good prices and wish them well with their new franchises.
As you can see by the make-up of our side, we have most areas covered. We were lucky to be able to retain four key players and this then formed the basis of our buying strategy.
Mike Hussey at the top to continue his partnership with VJ (Murali Vijay), Bravo and Styris join Albie in the all-rounder category to give us options and skill through the middle stages of an innings and Ben Hilfenhaus, Kulasekara and Dougie Bollinger to provide the grunt in the engine room.
Randiv takes over Murali's spot which is a tough ask, but something he is capable of doing especially with Murali as a mentor in Sri Lanka, and finally the back-up batting with Bailey and Du Plessis.
Without doubt, the biggest challenge of this auction was the buying of local talent. There are two key aspects for teams in the IPL, one of them is leadership and the other is the strength of the Indian players in your squad. The fact that we were able to retain the skipper, VJ and Raina gave us a huge advantage as we set out to buy our local boys back, but it was still challenging as some of the prices that were reached were staggering.
We were always going to hunt Ashwin after his stellar finish to lPL-3 and then his great form in the Champions League, but we were very unsure how much it was going to cost. However, once we lost we lost Murali, we just had to go all out. In the scheme of things, $850,000 is a steal!
Badrinath was the other player that created a high price, but his value to the side is immense. We ask him to perform many roles within our talented batting line up and he provides the glue when things are coming unstuck. He has been an underestimated player by many opposition sides, but certainly his value is well known to his Chennai team-mates.
The job is to now fill the squad with our local talent and as Kasi (Viswanathan) and the team look to do this, I hope we are able to add the name Jakati to our team. He is going to be a key player this season and I look forward to seeing him back in Yellow alongside Randiv and Ashwin.
Another thing I am rapt about is the retention of our management team. This is a great group to work with and their work often goes unnoticed, but I can tell you now it is one of the most important parts of any successful side.
All in all, it was an amazing experience and one I thoroughly enjoyed. Working with MD, Guru (Gurunath Meiyappan) and the rest of the team to reconstruct another strong Super Kings side was challenging but immensely enjoyable.
I now look forward to getting the side together, playing great cricket for our fans and working hard to defend our title of IPL champions
BANGALORE ROYAL CHALLENGERS LATEST NEWS
How Dilshan became an opener!
Ever wondered how Tilakratne Dilshan, the champion Sri Lankan opener and a Royal Challenger, ended up as one of the most successful and explosive openers of world cricket today? Over to Dilshan: “I batted at No. 7 from 1999 to 2008. I felt I could do more at the top of the order and I volunteered to open. I had a chat with Mahela Jayawardene and he said, 'okay you first play in the domestic season and let's see'. I got the Man of the Series in the domestic tournament and from there my game totally changed.” The rest was history!
Ever wondered how Tilakratne Dilshan, the champion Sri Lankan opener and a Royal Challenger, ended up as one of the most successful and explosive openers of world cricket today? Over to Dilshan: “I batted at No. 7 from 1999 to 2008. I felt I could do more at the top of the order and I volunteered to open. I had a chat with Mahela Jayawardene and he said, 'okay you first play in the domestic season and let's see'. I got the Man of the Series in the domestic tournament and from there my game totally changed.” The rest was history!
Playing in his second world cup, Dilshan, the cornerstone of Sri Lanka’s success story in recent years, says his team is ready for the games. “Everything is going well at the moment for us and we are looking forward to the World Cup," Dilshan said. “Whenever I get a chance I want to get a start and capitalize on that and get big runs. I am going to give 100% for the team and am looking forward to the games,” according to reports.
Referring to Sri Lanka’s chances, which are already termed as one of the favourites in this World Cup, Dilshan said, “In the last 15 months, we have played 27 ODIs and lost only six. Now, that's quite a good record. We are very consistent and it's a very good sign as well.” Ruwan Kalpage, Sri Lanka’s fielding coach is putting his wards through the grill and the results showed in the team’s performances, informed Dilshan.
Sri Lanka plays two warm up matches against Netherlands and West Indies before opening their WC campaign against Canada on February 20.
Playing in his second world cup, Dilshan, the cornerstone of Sri Lanka’s success story in recent years, says his team is ready for the games. “Everything is going well at the moment for us and we are looking forward to the World Cup," Dilshan said. “Whenever I get a chance I want to get a start and capitalize on that and get big runs. I am going to give 100% for the team and am looking forward to the games,” according to reports.
Referring to Sri Lanka’s chances, which are already termed as one of the favourites in this World Cup, Dilshan said, “In the last 15 months, we have played 27 ODIs and lost only six. Now, that's quite a good record. We are very consistent and it's a very good sign as well.” Ruwan Kalpage, Sri Lanka’s fielding coach is putting his wards through the grill and the results showed in the team’s performances, informed Dilshan.
Sri Lanka plays two warm up matches against Netherlands and West Indies before opening their WC campaign against Canada on February 20.
