'I would love to have four spinners and four fast bowlers. We can only play eleven.'
Kings XI Punjab captain Ravichandran Ashwin defended the decision to play only two spinners in the game against Chennai Super Kings, on a spin-friendly track, in Chennai, on Saturday.
CSK fielded three spinners, who dominated the Punjab batsmen and helped the hosts defend 160, while Punjab went in with just two slow bowlers.
"I would love to have four spinners and four fast bowlers. We can only play eleven. We have a combination where we have a six-strong batting and five-strong bowling attack," said Ashwin after Punjab were beaten by 22 runs.
"I thought the bowlers bowled well. Probably, missed the mark a bit in the powerplay, which is understandable. Whoever bowled and got a role to play, I thought we got them underpar as well. We were in the chase."
Ashwin was all praise for young Sarfaraz Khan though he was not able to take the team past the finish line.
"Sarfaraz is someone who has got incredible abilities to play well. And look what has happened today can happen to anybody because it is not one of those wickets when you come to CSK and it is easier to finish the game. It is a wicket with a long boundary and it's not going to be easy to hit sixes.
"He has been in good form and batting really well. I am sure the person who is not able to cross the line today will cross it tomorrow," he said.
Meanwhile, CSK head coach Stephen Fleming hailed the performance of South African captain Faf du Plessis.
"He can manipulate the bowling pretty well and has got some good power. He was able to keep the momentum going. It wasn't an easy track, but the longer players batted, there was more chance of getting an innings of substance," he added.
Fleming also said the team gave fast bowler Scott Kuggeleijn some instructions during the second strategic break and he responded well, bowling at the death, after conceding runs at the start.
"I hadn't met Scott before. When we lost Lungi (Ngidi). We had to look at a certain price bracket. He interested me because he had some pace in him. We gave him certain instructions during the second break and asked him to take away all the doubts," he added.
Talking about West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, who has been ruled out for two weeks owing to a hamstring strain, said he would be monitored but it is also an opportunity to test out the others.
"The injury is such that he can comeback hopefully for the later part of the tournament. David Willey also can maybe at some point. But we are a little bit thin no doubt about it and that was why the introduction of Scott today was important to see how thin we were.
"We are going to work hard at home we can get away with spinners but the bowlers are really trying hard to make sure they contribute. Today they did. We know we have got some holes and working hard to hide them," Fleming said.
