Forever Indebted to Dhoni, Fleming For Keeping Faith in me During CSK Days: Watson
Former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson on Saturday thanked Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper MS Dhoni and coach Stephen Fleming for keeping faith in him during the 2019’s edition of Indian Premier League (IPL). Watson had won the Indian Premier League (IPL) title in the inaugural season with the Rajasthan Royals and a decade later, he won it again with CSK in 2018. Watson thanked the duo during an Instagram Live session set-up by Chennai Super Kings.
“In CSK, you can go to ten games without not scoring runs and still get picked. For the last season, I would like to thank MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming for keeping their faith in me. Every other franchise would have been like ‘You are gone’. Thank you for coming, but you are sitting and you are running the drinks,” Watson said during the Instagram Live session.
“Through that period, unfortunately, I felt like I was batting well but I was just not scoring runs. I was feeling at some stage, they are going to move on, but they didn’t,” he added.
Watson also went on to say that finally, the faith of Dhoni and Fleming paid off in the final of the 2019 tournament.
“And then when things turned around, which I knew it would at some stage, I thanked MS and Fleming for keeping the faith, and they said there was never any doubt. And that’s phenomenal. That made me feel 10-foot tall,” Watson said.
“That is the power of amazing leadership. To know when to stick with people you believe, and that’s amazing for me. And I am forever indebted to those guys,” he added.
Watson had played a remarkable knock of 80 runs off just 59 balls during the 2019 IPL final against Mumbai Indians.
The right-handed batsman was single-handedly taking the CSK to their fourth title, but he was run-out in the final over and the side failed to win the title.
During the 2019 IPL, Watson managed to score 382 runs from 17 matches.
IPL 2020 was slated to begin from March 29, and in the first match, Chennai Super Kings was slated to face off against Mumbai Indians. However, the tournament was postponed until April 15 due to the coronavirus pandemic.