Fleming plays down Mongoose effect

Ahmedabad: After the success of Matthew Hayden’s utilisation of cricket’s latest ‘toy’, everybody is talking about the Mongoose bat.

Yet at the pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday’s match with Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming was doing his best to turn attention elsewhere.

“We haven't paid much attention to it,” Fleming stated. “Matthew Hayden is such a powerful guy and when he hits, the ball will go out of the park.

For Fleming, the primary focus is to arrest the slump in his side’s fortunes following three straight losses. By contrast, tomorrow’s opponents have won their last three.

“It is tough to stop teams with momentum,” Fleming asserted. “We have faced the challenge in the recent games. We played (Royal Challengers) Bangalore, then Mumbai (Indians),” the New Zealander added.

Fleming admits that one more loss would make it very difficult for his side to make the semi-finals.

"Obviously, we are the underdogs for tomorrow’s (Sunday’s) game. Twenty20 is all about momentum and it is with Rajasthan Royals. But all we need is a win to get our confidence back and gain some momentum."

And what will it take for Chennai to win the match?

"In one match we could not chase 136 and in the other we were done by some poor bowling and our fielding is also a problem. So we need to improve in all the three areas to entertain hopes of winning the match," said Fleming.