Home advantage hasn't played a bigger role: Wessels

16th May 2008

Chennai Super Kings coach Kepler Wessels reckons that 'home ground' advantage has not played a bigger role for his team's journey in the ongoing DLF Indian Premier League (IPL).

In a pre-match press conference, the former South African skipper mentioned that it has been strange in a certain way that his team has not benefitted from the so-called advantage. He added that travelling has not been a problem for his team as the Chennai franchise has done well in most of their away matches.

"We had a couple of really good away wins and we have lost a couple of matches at home. In a way when you sometimes play away, there is a little bit less pressure as well," Wessels said.

Chennai have struggled to find a proper batting combination in the top order after the departure of Australians Matthew Hayden and Michael Hussey for international duties. The Super Kings have experimented with the pair of Stephen Fleming and S Vidyut as their openers with Suresh Raina at number three in the past couple of games.

Kepler said that things have settled down now the departure of the Aussies but said that his three batsmen at the top of the order have done a good job so far.

"We are happy with the combination that we have there. They (Fleming and Vidyut) did particularly well in games against Delhi and Punjab," he added.

When queried about whether it is a challenging job for the Chennai team management and Wessels himself to cope with a 25-man squad, the 50-year-old quickly replied that the Super Kings are lucky to have a young side.

He also felt that because his squad consists of a handful of youngsters, it is easy to organise and pay attention to the whole squad.

He further went on to say, "We are looking to develop our younger players and that programme is working quite well. Hopefully, within the next two or three seasons, some of the younger players in our squad will come through very strongly."

Many of the franchises in the IPL are restricting their squad to 14 members and sending the rest of their players back home. The Chennai coach said that his team does not need to disperse their players as he wants the younger players to be involved in the scheme of things and to learn from the experienced international players.

The former Proteas cricketer, who has also represented Australia in Test cricket, cited that spinners play a very important role in the T20 format of the game.

"Generally, worldwide, wherever Twenty20 format is played, they (spinners) have done well," he said.