Old-school magic

Dubai, October 16

IPL champions for a fourth time, Chennai Super Kings’ coach Stephen Fleming said the secret of his ageing warriors’ success is that they rely more on gut feeling and interpersonal relationships instead of going too deep into analytics and numbers.

Fleming was a proud and satisfied man after his old brigade, led by 40-year-old talisman in Mahendra Singh Dhoni, claimed the title on Friday, outplaying Kolkata Knight Riders in the final

“There was criticism about the age of our squad but it’s rewarding to finish the four-year cycle with the trophy,” Fleming said. “Experience is important, guys who have been there and done it before add so much. We don’t get too deep into analytics and numbers, we go with gut feel and developing relationships with players. It is old school but it works for us.”

Fleming said all the four IPL titles are special to him but the current one holds greater significance as it was bagged by a side that was written off at the start of the tournament.

Dhoni was happy that a lot of individual match-winners have got CSK to their fourth trophy. “We had match winners coming game after game and doing really well. Every final is special, if you look at stats, we may say we’re the most consistent team to lose the final too. I feel it’s important to come back strong, especially in the knockouts,” Dhoni said.

Dhoni also made it clear that he is not very much into team meetings. “Frankly no chats, we don’t talk a lot (meetings). It’s more one-on-one, our practice sessions are meeting sessions. The moment you get into a team room, it brings about different pressure. Our practice sessions have been good,” he added.

MSD’s future

Dhoni in his inimitable style kept questions on his IPL retirement open-ended but did admit that a lot of things will depend on the kind of retention policy that BCCI puts in place for the big auction next year.

When asked if he was proud to have left a legacy behind in the 12 seasons for CSK, Dhoni assured his fans with a wide grin, “Still I haven’t left behind....”

But he said that he hasn’t decided how he would fit into the retention scheme of things.

“Again I’ve said it before, it depends on BCCI. With two new teams coming in......we have to decide what is good for CSK. It’s not about me being there in top-three or four. It’s about making a strong core to ensure the franchise doesn’t suffer. The core group, we have to have a hard look to see who can contribute for the next 10 years,” he said. — PTI

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We had match winners coming game after game and doing really well. Every final is special, if you look at stats, we may say we’re the most consistent team to lose the final too. I feel it’s important to come back strong, especially in the knockouts. —MS Dhoni, CSK captain

We’ve had a number of finals, but getting across the line is a challenge you want to conquer. There was criticism about the age of our squad but it’s rewarding to finish the four-year cycle with the trophy. Experience is important, guys who’ve been there and done it before add so much. —Stephen Fleming, CSKcoach

Feel on top of the moon to get the orange cap and have the winners trophy. Hard to describe in words, but amazing to win here after the season we had last year. —Ruturaj Gaikwad, Emerging player of the season

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Most runs (Top-3)
635 Ruturaj Gaikwad (CSK)
633 Faf du Plessis (CSK)
626 KL Rahul (PBKS)

Most wickets (Top-3)
32 Harshal Patel (RCB)
24 Avesh Khan (DC)
21 Jasprit Bumrah (MI)

Ruturaj Gaikwad was named the emerging player of the season and Harshal Patel the most valuable player of the season

6 fifties scored by Chennai’s Faf du Plessis, Punjab’s KL Rahul and Bangalore’s Glenn Maxwell each — most in the season

4 centuries scored in the season — by Chennai’s Ruturaj Gaikwad (101*), Rajasthan’s Sanju Samson (119) and Jos Buttler (124), and Bangalore’s Devdutt Padikkal (101*)

2 Four-wicket hauls taken by Chennai’s Deepak Chahar (best figures of 4/13) and Bangalore’s Harshal Patel (5/27) each in the season

30 Sixes hit by Punjab’s Rahul. Chennai openers du Plessis and Gaikwad hit 23 each