Published: May 17, 2015, 01:37 PM (IST)
Edited: May 17, 2015, 01:37 PM (IST)
Former champions, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) sealed their top spot in the league table, following an emphatic seven-wicket win over 2014 runners-up, Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in a low scoring tie at Mohali. With CSK on the pursuit to claim their third IPL crown, Faf du Plessis claims that it is the consistency of the team that has made things easier for them and to remain the most successful team in the league. Speaking in an interview to iplt20.com, Faf said that it has been a pleasure to play under the leadership of MS Dhoni that has indeed helped him to evolve as a cricketer.
“Last seven-eight seasons I think the strength of the CSK team has been the quality of the Indian players. It’s not a fluke that most of them play for the Indian cricket team, and I think that’s part of the reason of our success; they have been performing for a long time. Obviously it’s a lot more players [as well] than the overseas players and they have been consistent throughout the IPL; so a lot of credit to them. And obviously with a lot of their performances for Chennai Super Kings [many of the players] have gone on to play for India. So I think that’s our main strength,” he said.
“I think floater is a good way to put it. Before today I was batting more in the middle-order trying to keep the innings together, before the power-hitters that we have got, come in to bat. My role is not to go too aggressively and let the other guys make the play. But with my role changing today, coming in to bat at No. 3, I had a little bit more time in the powerplay. It was tricky today; we were ten for two, so that pushes you back a little. But I and Suresh [Raina] got a partnership [going] and the partnership was a big reason for us getting out alive,” he added.
On being asked about his preparations prior to the game, and while taking the field, he said, “I think my biggest strength as a cricketer is the ability to think on my feet. I always try and be smart about the way I think. In the beginning when I started playing for CSK, I opened the batting which was a lot more comfortable for me at that time. But the more I batted in the middle the more I grew and started to understand what is needed in the middle. As a player it helped me improve because earlier I was only successful in the first few overs whereas I struggled in the middle and towards the end. But with the role in CSK, where I have been batting a lot in the middle and also in the end, I think my game as grown in that sense.”
It should also be noted that apart from his clinical batting, Faf is also well-known for his outstanding fielding. Speaking about his natural fielding technique and his work on it, he said, “Yes, it’s like you said, natural but also hard work. But it’s also confidence, belief in yourself. There are a lot of good fielders in our team and I think that’s been the difference, especially this season. We have always had a great fielding unit, but this year has been exceptional. There have been one or two dropped catches but that’s going to happen. But the athleticism that we have got in our team is brilliant. We try and push each other to become better and it’s a nice to take those catches in the middle.”
On being asked on how he deals with the pressure on field while fielding, he said, “It’s difficult, that’s what pressure does. There is a great amount of pressure. Obviously Virat and Warner are great fielders, but pressure makes you do these things at times. We have all dropped catches but it is never nice when you drop a catch in such situations like what happened in the match between SRH and RCB. They will be very disappointed. If Warner had taken that catch, it would probably have won the game. So catching is an important skill in today’s cricket. In this new age of cricket it is just as important as batting and bowling. You can’t be making mistakes because if you do other teams will make use of it.”
“You’ve just got to relax. Generally one misses catches when one tenses up and you have got a lot of ideas going through your mind when the ball is up in the air. So when the ball goes up, whether it is an easy catch or a difficult catch, I just try and get there as quickly as possible so that I can be still under the ball and then just tell myself ‘you have got this, you can catch it’. You’ve got to keep a clear head; it is similar to batting. You don’t want to think about too many things. You just look at the ball, and all the catches that you have taken at practice would be useful for the catch that’s coming,” he added.
Despite sealing the top spot in the table, CSK have been quiet shaky at times, to which Faf replied, “We haven’t played our best cricket most of the time but we still manage to win games and that’s the sign of a good team when you can do that. It’s different because we always scrape through to the playoffs but we have always been consistent. We always had it tough going into the playoffs. Now we have had an easier road in and there is a huge difference. Last year we had to play in the Eliminator and even if you win it it’s another game, and at the end of an obviously long season, an extra game takes a lot out of you mentally. It’s nice now, we can have a break and then play in the Qualifier and hopefully put up a real good performance and then have another break again. So we are very happy at where are today.”
On being asked about Dhoni’s captaincy skills and how it feels to play under him, he clamly replied, “It is good, we have got a lot of leaders in our team – myself, Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Bravo and even Raina [has captained India]. It was nice for me in the beginning when I was still a young captain to play under MS and see what his thinking is, how calm he is. Now it’s nice after we have played a lot together when I come up with an idea and share it with him and he too talks to me. There is a lot for me to learn from him. He is a very successful captain and he has done some great things in his career; so one can only learn from that.”
“The most important thing is that we all understand that Dhoni is the captain, and never, not once has any one doubted that. The exchange of ideas helps. MS also understands that too much of thinking is also not a great thing. So we understand that I will go to MS maybe two or three times during a game but never more than that because you know that he has got a lot on his mind and he doesn’t want too many voices coming to him. So it’s only when I feel I want to share something with him that I go up to him. And he will come to me probably once or twice a game when he has got a fifty-fifty thought and needs clarity. The main thing is that we all know that he is in charge and we never do anything to doubt that,” he added.
Faf also said on Stephen Fleming and his coaching skills. “He has been amazing. He has been a successful coach and has had a lot of success with CSK, especially at the knockout stages and that’s amazing. He is a really good man manager and knows how to communicate with players. He is relaxed, which is modern day coaching. He is always cracking jokes and is a real fun guy to be around. I have learnt a lot from him too. With all these great cricket minds in the dressing room, it makes us all better players,” he said.
He concluded by commenting on CSK’s game plan in the upcoming games at playoffs. “We have probably played one perfect game where it was really good. Today [match against KXIP in Mohali] was a good win for us. We didn’t have a good start, they almost choked us and it could have gone either way but it was clinical performance with the bat after being ten for two. We were under a lot of pressure after the early losses and we managed to get through that. We try to improve with every game and now for us, it’s hoping that after all those games that we have played, we can play our two best matches towards the end of the tournament,” he concluded.
