IPL 2013: Chennai Super Kings match eyeball to eyeball vs Mumbai Indians
CSK coach Stephen Fleming and MI captain Rohit Sharma promise to play their best cricket in first qualifier in Delhi on Tuesday.
Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma and Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming want their respective sides to focus on playing good cricket and not get distracted by the spotfixing scandal that has rocked the Indian Premier League ahead of the first qualifier here on Tuesday. (Also read: Rajasthan Royals terminate contracts of tainted players)
"We don't want to think too much about it. Everybody here is a professional cricketer and we have got more important job at hand than to think about it. So we don't want to get distracted," said Rohit at the pre-match press conference.
"We are here on a mission, we certainly don't want to get distracted by what has been happening. As I said, we have big task at hand to win the trophy. We are concentrating on what we need to do, the planning and strategies," he added. IPL steps up security for four teams, deploys ACSU officers
Fleming, on his part, said it has been a disappointing week for the IPL and the spot-fixing saga will overshadow the efforts put in by teams over the past few weeks.
"It's been very disappointing. The standard of IPL has been excellent, of course it's (spot-fixing) going to overshadow the game played over the past few weeks. We have got one week now to hopefully get few great games and win another final. We want the IPL to finish off on a good cricket note. From the CSK point of view, that will be great," Fleming said.
Fleming said as a coach, he always advised his players to concentrate on the game and made sure nothing else "creeps into the dressing room". Sreesanth is subject of upcoming Malayalam movie, Cricket
"It's the suspicion from outside. We are concentrating on games ahead and CSK has been very good this year. My job is to motivate the players to win another IPL and a big semifinal against Mumbai. 'Drunk' Sreesanth threw tantrums before his arrest
"Everything about the issue has been speculated from outside, from the news channels. We try that nothing else creeps into the dressing room," he said.