Holders Chennai Super Kings registered a comprehensive 63-run win over Gujarat Titans for their second win in as many games. After the Indian Premier League 2024 match at Chepauk, CSK batting coach Michael Hussey talked about almost every aspect of the game, from the 'Impact Player' rule to the five-time champions' approach. The Aussie great also analysed the performances of young guns - Sameer Rizvi, Rachin Ravindra, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shivam Dube
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00:00 Yeah, he's had a great start. It's been awesome to watch. I mean, he's just come here full
00:08 of energy and he just wants to learn so much and make a positive impact on the team environment.
00:15 So yeah, fantastic. He's just enjoying it, enjoying his time. He's just trying to soak
00:19 up as much knowledge as he possibly can. I think he really feeds off the crowd a bit
00:23 as well. And yeah, once he got a couple of good shots away early, I think his confidence
00:27 just grew and he believed that, you know, yep, I can perform on this stage and he's
00:32 sort of grown from there. So it's been a great start. I think he's just gone out there with
00:36 a clear mind and a nice positive attitude and yeah, got off to a good start. There's
00:41 never the perfect game, you know, there's always things we can work on. But it was a
00:46 very good performance tonight, I must admit. I think we were very good in all facets of
00:51 the game. I think Ajinkya Rahane's catch to get rid of David Miller was outstanding. I
00:55 mean, he got, it was a fantastic catch that he was part of to get rid of Virat Kohli in
00:59 the previous game as well. Those sort of things are really helpful because obviously Miller
01:03 and Kohli, they can take a game away from you very quickly. So those little moments
01:08 really mean a lot in the field and yeah, we're lucky to have someone like Ajinkya out there
01:12 running around. I mean, a big focus has been on death bowling and having Patherana back
01:19 today was really important for that. And I think we've seen with Mr. Fizzer, the job
01:25 that he's done in the first two matches as well, with a left arm option, fantastic slower
01:29 ball, he's cool and under pressure at the death as well. So I feel as though that's
01:35 working at the moment as well. Like we've got a good sort of death options there, which
01:39 is important. And then I guess with the impact player in the whole competition, batting orders
01:45 are just getting deeper and deeper. So that gives the players the freedom, I guess, to
01:49 be able to go out there and be really positive and keep taking the game on. And when you
01:54 get these world-class players in good conditions, playing confidently, they're very hard to
02:00 stop. It's definitely been a directive from Fleming to keep pushing the game forward.
02:08 As I mentioned, the impact player rule coming in, we've got basically an extra batsman and
02:11 an extra bowler throughout the game. So the batting orders keeps lengthening. I mean,
02:15 I think we've got MSD at number eight, which is crazy. And MSD is batting really well at
02:21 the moment as well. So because we've got so much depth in our resource there, it means
02:26 the players up the order. If they're sort of in two minds, take the positive route,
02:30 you know, and they'll certainly have the backing from the coaches and the captain that we'd
02:35 prefer you to keep trying to push the game forward as much as you can. If you get out
02:39 and doing so, that's fine. You'll never be criticised for that. We want the game.
02:44 Flemm's talk is about playing fast. We want to keep playing fast. I've got to give a lot
02:49 of credit to Dubé. He's gone away and he's worked and worked and worked tirelessly against
02:54 the short ball in his own time. Not here in our time. I mean, he works hard on it here
02:59 as well and he gets the throwers to throw lots of short stuff to him. But to his credit,
03:05 he's gone away. He's seen that that's an area that he needs to improve on and it's an area
03:09 that teams were going to come at him with. And he has gone away and done hours and hours
03:13 of hard work. So, I mean, it's hats off to him and the way he's playing, he's playing
03:17 it with confidence now. And then he's also still as dangerous as ever against the spinners
03:22 as we saw tonight.
03:23 One maybe two years ago, teams would come in and bowl a short ball and he'd either duck
03:27 out of the way or defend and that's all he had. Until he got in and set and then he could
03:31 maybe play some shots against it. Now, bowlers are still coming in with the same plan but
03:37 he's been able to score off it as well. And he's been able to find boundaries if he gets
03:41 into the right position as well. So, that's testament to the work that he's put in behind
03:45 the scenes to be ready for their plans. And now it's back on the bowlers. What are they
03:49 going to do now? Are they going to continue with this plan or will they go away from that
03:53 and try something else? We'll have to wait and see.
03:55 But as I said before, I think a lot of credit needs to go to Dubé for the amount of work
04:00 that he's put in on that particular ball. And I don't necessarily, I mean, I think it'll
04:05 hold him in good stead for the IPL but also if he gets opportunities for the country again
04:09 in the future, I think it'll hold him in great stead as well.
04:12 To be honest, I think he's been fantastic. He's very well prepared. Him, Flem, MSD, they
04:19 get together and they talk tactics before the game. But I think the way Routu changes
04:23 the bowlers around, the fields are very good, he seems very clear. The messaging to the
04:28 bowlers is very clear as well. So, I think he's taken the job brilliantly at the moment.
04:34 So, I know he's got some good support around him but he's a very smart guy as well, a very
04:39 cricket savvy guy. He understands the game well. I mean, he's got a good team to work
04:44 with as well which that helps as well. But I think he's been fantastic so far.
04:50 Well he's got some natural, obviously a lot of natural ability and natural hitting ability.
04:57 We've seen it at practice, especially against the spinners. I mean, he can hit a long way
05:05 and he can hit the ball very cleanly. But it's still a big ask for a young player to
05:09 come in in his first IPL game against arguably the best T20 bowler of all time in Rashid
05:15 Khan and hit the first ball that you face for six. I mean, that's just crazy, isn't
05:20 it? So, we're very excited for him. I mean, he was excited to play, especially here at
05:25 Chepauk with such a great crowd. And I think that's the great thing about youth. They have
05:32 no fear. So they can come out and just play with that complete freedom right from the
05:37 word go. I mean, it was also a bit of a masterstroke
05:40 from the think tank as well. Because I think we're all expecting MSD to come out and play
05:46 those last sort of few balls in the innings. But they realise that Rizvi's got some natural
05:51 power against spin. And that's why they wanted to send the youngster out. And he delivered
05:56 two sixes at the end which was great. Great for his confidence as well. I think the crowd
06:01 enjoyed it. So he'll be feeling pretty good tonight.
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