Kolkata: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) coach Stephen Fleming said Thursday his IPL side traded hard for veteran Piyush Chawla because he shares a ‘great relationship’ with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, besides being a quality leg-spinner.
Chawla turned out to be a surprise hit with the franchises during the IPL auction here and was eventually bought by CSK for a whopping Rs 6.75 crore.
Fleming said it was a well-thought out decision as CSK heavily rely on spinners in Chepauk’s low and slow wicket.
“We traded very hard (for Chawla) and certainly the captain has a great relationship with him. He’s proven that he’s a quality leg-spinner which we value very highly,” the CSK coach said.
“He’s a different type of bowler than Karn Sharma. We also had to make some decisions around how all fits in but it was an opportunity that came up and we took it. We have a pretty well-balanced squad. We’ve always favoured spin, our home ground is very spin dominant, so having a lot of spinners is not a bad thing,” added the CSK coach.
Fleming said Sam Curram, who was bought for for Rs 5.5 crore, too was a good pick, considering his all-round abilities.
“Well, there were a lot of players…(Pat) Cummins is one that I think most people identified but we didn’t have a lot of money. So we had to be very smart. Sam Curran we liked. Yes, he’s a left-arm seamer who can bat,” Fleming pointed out.
“He has a great attitude towards the game, he really gets into the game. He played well against us in the past. He’s playing well for England. So he fits in nicely with Bravo in that sort of seven-eight position,” added the former Kiwi captain.
Fleming said CSK went for Australian pacer Josh Hazzlewood as he will add more fire into their bowling attack.
“And getting Hazlewood at the end is to add a little bit of firepower with (Lungi) Ngidi. Like other teams, we are just trying to add some pieces and then just work through the combinations,” Fleming said.
“You can get confused but we’re actually pretty happy with our group. So it was just a case of trying to add a few things different,” signed off Fleming.
PTI