Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], April 22 (ANI): Ahead of his side’s Indian Premier League (IPL) clash against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batting coach Michael Hussey said that the inconsistent form of Rachin Ravindra at the top is not a concern, saying that the young opener is in a positive frame of mind and he is just one score away from a big knock.
CSK will be locking horns with LSG at Chennai’s Chepauk Stadium on Tuesday. CSK, the five-time champions at fourth place with four wins and three losses, with a total of eight points. They had lost to LSG by eight wickets in their previous match on Friday at Lucknow on April 19. LSG is at the fifth spot in the table with the same win-loss and points, but they have a lower net run rate.
Ahead of the match, a key concern for CSK is the form of Rachin Ravindra. Though he started well with quickfire knocks of 37 and 46, his form dipped later on and he registered low scores of 2, 12, 15, 21 and 0 in coming matches.
However, Hussey is not concerned, saying that batting can be fickle at the top of the order and once the batter gets back his rhythm, he will be able to keep momentum going.
“Unfortunately, he missed out a couple of times. He is still in a good space mentally, his game is still in good working order. My message to him has been that he is just one inning closer to that big score. It is coming. He is still in a positive frame of mind, he is batting well in the nets. So we’re hopeful that there is a big score very soon, he will enjoy that. And it would be great for the team to get us off to a good start,” stated Hussey in the pre-match press conference.
Talking about the pacer Mustafizur Rahman, the Bangladesh veteran who is the franchise’s leading wicket-taker this season with 11 scalps in six matches, Hussey said that the team is happy with his returns so far.
“He [Mustafizur Rahman] has got that wonderful slower ball, which is hard to hit particularly here in Chennai. We will be sad when he goes [back to Bangladesh], but his country is calling. We want to keep him for as long as he can. We have been delighted with his output so far,” said Hussey.
On how the team aims to tackle LSG skipper KL Rahul, Hussey said that KL is a fantastic player and playing some good cricket and looks confident and in a good mindset.
“That makes him very dangerous. And I think he has also got the ability to go on and play that big innings, he can score 80-plus. If you have got a batter in your line-up who can score 80-plus then you are going to win a lot of games. So I guess if we can get the ball moving early that’ll be a big bonus for us. To both him and Quinton de Kock. That was one of our problems in the last game, we could not break that partnership until very late,” he added.
As the league reaches the halfway stage, each loss means more pressure for a team. There is a lot of expectations from each teams. Hussey said that winning is going to become important and the team wants to keep its good record intact at home.
“Of course, it is going to be very important (winning games), the closer you get to the back end of the tournament, the wins become more important. I mean anytime in the tournament wins are important. We have got a pretty good start but we have got a good record at home and that is what we want to keep intact. If we can play well in the next three matches, it gives us a great chance,” said Hussey.
“All our focus and attention needs to be on tomorrow night against LSG. That is all we can focus on at the moment, try and take care of business in that game. And then we will look forward to the next one. If you start thinking that we are going to win the next three matches then you are taking your mind on what is not important. I guess the short answer is we’re not looking too far ahead but important stage in the tournament, yeah,” he concluded.
Lucknow Super Giants Squad: Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul(w/c), Nicholas Pooran, Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Matt Henry, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan, Yash Thakur, Arshin Kulkarni, Krishnappa Gowtham, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Manimaran Siddharth, Arshad Khan, Prerak Mankad, Amit Mishra, Kyle Mayers, Shamar Joseph, Ashton Turner, Naveen-ul-Haq, Devdutt Padikkal, Mayank Yadav
Chennai Super Kings Squad: Ajinkya Rahane, Rachin Ravindra, Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Sameer Rizvi, Moeen Ali, MS Dhoni(w), Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Mustafizur Rahman, Matheesha Pathirana, Shardul Thakur, Shaik Rasheed, Nishant Sindhu, Mitchell Santner, Daryl Mitchell, Aravelly Avanish, Maheesh Theekshana, RS Hangargekar, Simarjeet Singh, Mukesh Choudhary, Prashant Solanki, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Richard Gleeson. (ANI)
