Eric Simons, IPL 2020

Getting back to braais and winning ways

I guess you don’t so much earn your salary as a coach when your team is firing on all cylinders, as much as you do when the team is battling. We are in a bit of a trough at the moment and need to find our way up. We hoped we had turned the corner with the 10-wicket win against King’s XI but losing from a very winnable position in our game against Kolkata was extremely frustrating. 

Those are the tough ones to deal with, far more than if you are outplayed by the opposition. The hallmark of our team is exactly the opposite, win the unwinnable rather than lose from a strong position. Such is the nature of a strange thing in sport called momentum. 

The Super Kings have been a well-oiled machine for a very long time, efficient and reliable to the point where fans, and the players to be fair, simply expected the team to win far more than it lost. They took as a fact, and for good reason. We know the fans are as frustrated as we are with just two wins in six games.  In spite of the disappointing results the fans keep coming and we recently went past six million followers, and growing, on the CSK tournament twitter account.

There are always reasons for poor performances and they should be examined constructively and with the objective of learning whatever we can. I mentioned in an earlier diary that one of the most important things we have to be as coaches is consistent. Win or lose. Obviously we need to constantly be checking our processes as we learn from each match but my point is that it should happen regardless of the result. 

Players feed off the energy in their environment and keeping that healthy is an important part of a successful team. The conversations must always be honest and with laser sharp focus - panic has never been a hallmark of CSK. Players have to keep reminding themselves that a bad performance does not make you a bad cricketer. The important thing is to put it behind you and focus on the next one.    

MS also reminded everyone a few days ago that nobody could guarantee results or success – all they could guarantee was the right attitude and effort. The players are certainly delivering on that.

The balance of a team in an IPL is so important. The better balance you have the more difficult it is for opponents to predict your strategies and so plan against you. It was a blow to lose Suresh Raina before the tournament and not one that we could easily recover from. Not only has he been a cornerstone of the CSK team for so long, but also on a technical level, having a left hander at the top of the order creates different challenges for the opposition bowlers. 

Kolkata had the luxury of left handed and right handed options throughout their batting line up and ‘like for like’ was the order of the day as they lost wickets. The chances are that Suresh would have featured strongly in a couple of the run chases in which we have fallen short. Add to that his ability to bowl a few effective off spin overs adds to the balance of our team. How different things might have looked, but he is not here so we need to find a way.

One thing you can be sure about in an IPL tournament is that there will be no easy match and we are busy plotting and planing for our match on Saturday against Virat Kholi and his RCB team which obviously includes a certain AB de Villiers. Those two certainly make bowlers sit up and take notice in our planning meetings. 

What has definitely improved are the stadium sound effects! I assume there is someone sitting with some sort of mixing desk with loads of buttons which provides access to different sounds that a typical crowd makes. Some people still assume that the sound effects are only provided for the TV audience. No, they are played in the stadium as much for the benefit of the players as the viewers. 

Initially some of the crowd noises didn’t match the play but this has noticeably improved. There are times when you’re watching the match intensely from the dugout, it’s actually possible to forget that you’re in an empty stadium. 

The South Africans are still doing their part to keep things moving on the social front and Faf was in charge of arranging our latest braai on the 24th floor ‘deck’ and ordering our meat from the Butchers Grill.  

Finally, an update on the barber who isolated inside our bubble for seven days so he could give everyone a trim at the start of the tournament. He didn’t fancy doing it again so we’ve trained our physio how to use the clippers!