Duckworth-Lewis is rubbish: Stephen Fleming

The 45th match of the Indian Premier League between Rising Pune Supergiants and Kolkata Knight Riders saw the match being decided on the Duckworth-Lewis method, after the rain interruption in the 18th over of the first innings.

At 17.4 overs, Supergiants batting first were at 103 for the loss of 6 wickets with the skipper MS Dhoni at the crease. After the delay, Kolkata Knight Riders were asked to chase 66 in 9 overs which they did in just 5 overs.

Stephen Fleming feels that they were well on their way to 135 and with the track turning like what we saw in the first innings and with Supergiants having some spinners with them, they are well on their way to defend a total around 135.

In the post-match press conference the Fleming, the RPS coach said: “The Duckworth-Lewis is rubbish”. “As soon as you get to D/L, the game is over. We were on our way to 134-140. We were looking for 25 runs in the last three overs. The track was turning. We knew it will be a difficult chase with our spinners but as soon as D/L came in, it was pretty much game over.

Rising Pune Supergiants had dismissed both the openers in the first three balls of the match by Ravichandran Ashwin, but the revised target wasn’t big enough to be defended.

“I’ve been saying that for years. The others have said it as well but there’s no point carrying on too much about it. There’s no willingness to change. It’s not made for a T20 game. It’s just ridiculous really and until it’s addressed you just hope the sky doesn’t open.”

MS Dhoni had scored 8 runs from 22 balls before the rain delay and Stephen Fleming feels that he could have ended on a high, helping his team to reach at least 135. “The approach was to play positively,” he revealed. “We lost wickets because it turned. We knew we were going to lose wickets throughout because it was that type of pitch.”

“We would have scrapped to 135-140, and if someone had played really well we could have gone to 150. The spinners that we’ve got, it would have been a difficult chase. As soon as we came to know the target with all the rain and wet ball, we knew it was impossible.”

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