Cricket: Stephen Fleming finds Midas touch

Stephen Fleming has helped the Chennai Super Kings to their third IPL title. Photo / Getty Images

Stephen Fleming has arguably become the world's most-coveted Twenty20 coach after securing his third Indian Premier League title with the Chennai Super Kings last week.

No coach has won more. The franchise joined the Mumbai Indians in winning the tournament for a third time in its 11th edition.

The former New Zealand captain once seemed an unlikely candidate for such a role.

As a prototype elegant left-hander he occupied the crease and leaned on rather than flayed the ball to the boundary. In his pomp, Fleming was best captured in white.

There was evidence to the contrary, such as when he kept New Zealand in the 2003 World Cup with 134 not out to defeat South Africa at the Wanderers, and the 106 from 57 balls to dismantle the FICA World XI at Christchurch in 2005.

His strike rate of 129 in five T20 internationals and 122 in 53 franchise matches also painted a more aggressive picture.

However, Fleming's best remembered for directing his team around the field after becoming Black Caps skipper as a 23-year-old in 1997.

Those leadership skills have been the catalyst for his transition into the IPL dugout.

The 45-year-old has proven himself an astute and measured gaffer, imbued with pragmatism suited to the Indian cricket environment.

"Coach" tends to be a misnomer. A better term would be "manager", in a footballing context. Fleming is charged with getting the best out of his squad through motivation and cajoling rather than technical guidance.

Initially he was a player in the IPL's 2008 debut, before assuming the coaching job every subsequent season — apart from their 2016 and 2017 suspension, courtesy of a team official's links to illegal betting syndicates.

Fleming spent those seasons employed by the Pune Supergiant. This year bore witness to CSK's powerful return. Fleming began the season resplendent in a phosphorus-yellow Nehru jacket at an auction where CSK placed experience as their top selection quality.

You can use statistics or gut instinct as a guide, but ultimately it comes down to whether you have the type of people who can perform under pressure on the big occasion.

Stephen Fleming

Harbhajan Singh (37), Shane Watson (36), Dwayne Bravo (34) and Faf du Plessis (33) joined retained player and captain MS Dhoni (36) to form the IPL's version of a Dad's Army.

Fleming spent a while justifying their modus operandi, but the scrutiny waned when they won five of their opening six games.

"We picked an older team, filled with players who had been there done that ... and got a lot of criticism. We were written off after the auction and nervous about going back into the competition.

"All your plans can go awry during the bidding, so you have to accept it's a fluid process.

"It's adrenaline-filled stuff ... like buying 20-odd houses in the space of 20 hours. You can get quite fatigued.

"There's no rhyme nor reason a lot of the time in the auction, so putting together a budget on what you think players are worth can be pie-in-the-sky.

"In some ways, the more plans you have, the more risk you have of making mistakes."

Fleming says they have a general overview of how they want to play, then match two to three players in each position as cover.

"Sometimes you take whichever players come up first in the various sections, because you want someone in the bank rather than waiting for your No1 pick. Otherwise it can get panicky.

"You can use statistics or gut instinct as a guide, but ultimately it comes down to whether you have the type of people who can perform under pressure on the big occasion."

The theories don't always work. Fleming acknowledges the 2017-18 season with the Melbourne Stars as an example.

They finished last and had "the worst season in the club's history."

He says the biggest difference is probably the contract method. Fleming favours continuity and cohesion. However, he believes you need flexibility.

"In Melbourne we were consistent [with selection] as well, but maybe the length of contracts were too long.

"If players get old or stale, you can have years where it doesn't work.

"In India, you can turn players over a lot easier."

Fleming has noticed plenty of change in India since his maiden tour in 1994. Cricket remains at the core of the country's social development.

"India is driving forward in a number of ways — the style of living facilities, the restaurants and the Western influence as middle-class Indians educated abroad come back with new ideas. It's a wonderful mix.

"Cricket is at the forefront, especially when you see the technology and how they're displaying the game. The [IPL] coverage saturates the landscape for two months. It stops a country. It's a soap opera every night from eight o'clock when people tune in.

"It's a big melting pot, and the amounts of money and crowds involved are phenomenal.

"At Chennai we're always sold out, and are breaking records on our digital viewing platforms each game."

Fleming is contracted at CSK until the end of the 2020 season. The future looks as bright as that Nehru jacket.