Rising Pune Supergiants coach Stephen Fleming supports M S Dhoni

M S Dhoni has always been a captain who loves to win and who loves to take his opponents by surprise - that has been the secret of his charm. But his current stint as captain of Rising Pune Supergiants, a new entrant to the Indian Premier League (IPL), has been full of potholes. And, in the opinion of the team coach Stephen Fleming, failure to win key moments in matches have cost them dearly in the ongoing IPL9.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 13 May 2016.

Rising Pune Supergiants has struggled in the competition and could win only three out of their 11 games so far and are out of contention for a play-off berth. As coach Fleming has said - there can be no excuses but loss of four of first choice players hit them hard. Moreover, there were five games with last over finishes and if they had won at least three of those games, it would have made a huge difference.
Another aspect is a new team - it takes time for the players to settle down to a new setup. And, the problems we aggravated with injuries to key batsmen like South African pair of Kevin Pietersen and Faf du Plessis and the Australian pair of Steve Smith and Mitchell Marsh.
As to criticism of Dhoni's captaincy with relation of under-utilization of experienced off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. The reason, as revealed by Fleming, was that the bowlers upfront had failed to strike the early blows. Unless that happens, spinners cannot make any impact.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

Some more interesting links -

Baya weaver birds return to Ganjam district in Odisha

28 thrillseekers stuck in Alton Towers Galactica rollercoaster ride for 40 minutes

Walking is the best exercise in polluted cities


Moody wonders why American space research firms are jittery (satire)

Lord Shiva and Durga on home delivery and drones (satire)

Sujjo Kanto and Ritu Bruto on free LPG connections (satire)


ISIS still holding 30 workers out of 300 kidnapped from cement factory in Dumeir

Another Bangladeshi blogger killed in Dhaka because of his views on religion

Florida hunters bag a 15-foot 800-pound massive alligator


Michael Fassbender to portray the role of a serial killer in 'Entering Hades'

Disney plans live action fairytales for 2017, 2018 and 2019 - specific films not disclosed

Matt Damon to return in new Jason Bourne film