'He repaid the faith' - Stephen Fleming on Ravindra Jadeja's last-over heroics against Mohit Sharma

Chennai Super Kings all-rounder Ravinder Jadeja has been the talk of the town for his heroics in the IPL 2023 final on Tuesday, May 30 between Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans. The southpaw played a brilliant cameo of unbeaten 15 off six balls to help his side get over the line in pursuit of their revised target of 171 in 15 overs. Courtesy of his knock, CSK clinched their fifth IPL title and got level with Mumbai Indians in terms of most IPL trophies won.

Following Jadeja’s splendid show, CSK head coach Stephen Fleming showered praise on the southpaw and said that it was a difficult 18-month period for the all-rounder due to injury and captaincy issues with CSK in 2022.

“It was a pretty good one today. It’s probably been a difficult 18 months where the captaincy was difficult. The injury was difficult. It took a bit of time for him to be out of the game and come reinvigorated in the Test game and then reintegrate into CSK. He plays a great role with the ball. But we have so much firepower, that sometimes we use him lower down the order. But something had to give,” Fleming was quoted as saying by News18.

The former New Zealand skipper further said that captain MS Dhoni was supportive in promoting him up the order and he repaid the faith with his match-winning performance. Fleming further credited him for his six down the ground on a slower ball yorker against Mohit Sharma in the final over which brought CSK back into the game.

MS has been really supportive and proactive in getting him up there: Stephen Fleming

“MS has been really supportive and proactive in getting him up there and today he repaid that faith. The six, in particular, off a ball that was very close to perfect, was defining, and then a good left-hander straight drive through fine leg was a great way to finish it. I couldn’t be happier for him. Yeah, there has been some frustration at times, but he is a gun player. No.1 ranked player and today he delivered," he added.

Jadeja was under immense pressure in the final over as CSK required 10 runs to win off the last two balls. The southpaw was up against Mohit Sharma who bowled brilliant yorkers on the first four balls of the over and gave away just three runs. The 34-year-old first smacked a six on the penultimate ball and later guided the ball towards fine leg for four to register a thrilling win. With the ball, he picked up 1/38 in four overs.