'Fixing issue affected us'

After their defeat to Mumbai Indians in the final of the IPL VI, Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming admitted that the spot-fixing scandal had a disruptive effect on his team.

Gurunath Meiyappan, a top Super Kings official, was arrested in connection with the fixing scandal.

"We are a very calculated side usually, but it's really been a very difficult last week. Off the field, we were to experience something we had not been used to. But certainly it (our campaign) was disrupted," said Fleming said.

Fleming said the team had discussed the spot-fixing episode in the dressing room. "We discussed spot-fixing yesterday. How much effect it had on them — each player would have to answer that. I acknowledged in my statement yesterday that it had been a tough week," the former New Zealand skipper said.

Fleming said it was disappointing to end the IPL VI, in which CSK had shown lot of consistency, on a losing note. “There was an element of consistency in a topsy-turvy tournament. We love winning but we are also pretty humble in defeat. We were hoping that our performance in the final would reflect the pride and the nature of the side. But it was not to be. We were outplayed by Mumbai," Fleming said.

"So, this was a disappointing end to what was a good tournament for us. We probably had the most consistent tournament. We just came out short in the title round," he noted.

Fleming said the first over of the Chennai innings bowled by Lasith Malinga made the difference in the result. Malinga dismissed Mike Hussey and Suresh Raina in successive balls to give an early jolt to CSK innings. "Malinga's was an outstanding spell. He took the new ball after a long time. We just had to get through that spell. He had Hussey probably with the best ball of the IPL. Huss has been so good for us this year," he said.

"Chasing that many, with Hussey 60 not out, we would have won the game easily. Johnson followed it up as well. Three quick wickets and the shot selection after that was pretty poor,” he added.

Fleming admitted the Super Kings had lost a bit of composure after Malinga’s first over. "It was not a nice situation (losing two wickets in the first over). The strength of our side is that we have a long batting order. With Dhoni coming down to finish the game, it gives confidence to the top order.

"It was just a case of putting our innings together but we lost our composure and the dismissals of Bravo and Jadeja showed that. We tried to stay composed with the depth in our batting order. We tried to minimise damage and change the momentum. But we didn’t play good shots and succumbed to pressure today," he said.