Events outside the ground were disrupting: Fleming

Kolkata - Observing that “events outside the ground were disrupting”, Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming on Sunday blamed its batters for poor shot selection after they were “outplayed” by the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League final at the Eden Gardens here.

“It has been a difficult week for us. Events outside the ground were disrupting. We are not used to such things. We are very calculated side and this week has been difficult and disruptive as we had explained in yesterday’s (Saturday) press conference.

“Today, we were hoping that our performance would reflect our pride and the nature of the side. But that wasn’t to be, a disappointing end to otherwise a very good season,” Fleming said at the post match media conference.

The Super Kings Saturday in a press conference had issued a statement distancing itself from the raging spot fixing controversy in which their chief executive officer Gurunath Meiyappan has been arrested.

Incidentally, skipper M.S. Dhoni, who was slated to address Saturday’s press meet but gave it a miss, was once conspicuous by his absence on Sunday.

Fleming sought to defend Dhoni’s non-attendance saying: “He doesn’t do a lot of media, it’s his style maybe.”

Chasing a modest target of 149, Chennai could not recover from a disastrous start losing three quick wickets to eventually lose the match by 23 runs.

“Despite the three quick wickets, we were not down and out. But the shots that we played, we never really gave us a chance. Our shot selection was very poor. We lost our composure, the (Dwayne) Bravo and (Ravindra) Jadeja dismissals reflected that,” said Fleming.

The coach also defended the selection of opener Murali Vijay who did not had much to show with the bat this season.

The former Kiwi opener praised the Mumbai bowlers, especially new ball bowler Lasith Malinga and admitted that his team was outplayed.

“For us, it was a great season till the last week. We would have loved to respond in the field but unfortunately that was not to be. We were completely outplayed,” added Fleming.