T20 should remain in franchises' domain, says Stephen Fleming

 
Like Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Stephen Fleming has been synonymous with Chennai Super Kings. The former Kiwi captain, who took over as CSK coach after featuring in the inaugural edition (2008) as a player, has led them to two titles and four runner-up finishes in eight Indian Premier League seasons. Despite CSK's two-year suspension, Fleming and Dhoni once again find themselves on the same side of the divide at IPL's new franchise Rising Pune Supergiants. The 42-year-old Fleming, who was in Kolkata for a brainstorming session with the franchise owners before the IPL auction, shared his thoughts with TOI in course of an exclusive chat on Thursday (Febrary 4).

Following are the excerpts:

Do you expect the ICC World Twenty20 to have a major impact on the way eight IPL teams approach the ninth edition of the tournament?

It will be interesting to see how the national teams approach the ensuing World T20 meet. I, however, believe that T20 cricket should remain in the domain of franchises. The popularity of IPL, Big Bash League, BPL and CPL clearly points in that direction. At the international level, T20 should be restricted to a few friendlies' between national teams and the World Cup.

But how do you explain different countries now having not only different captains in the three formats but also different personnel?

T20 requires a different approach and mindset. That explains the evolution of T20 specialists. The point I am making is that it does not make sense for international teams to travel half way across the globe to play two or three T20s. Recently , New Zealand used their Test squad to play T20s against the West Indies because it didn't make sense for New Zealand Cricket to fly out their T20 specialists to the Caribbean for just a couple of games.

Is multi-tasking crucial in T20 cricket?

You can say that because it certainly gives the team management more options, but I think a lot depends on the skill set of individual players. Top class players like Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers hardly ever bowl, but they are match-winners. The same applied to Muttiah Muralitharan.

Kolkata Knight Riders have been well served by a plethora of all-rounders in the last few editions of the IPL. Is that an advantage?

It is always a big advantage to have genuine all-rounders in any format. There is no denying the fact that KKR have been well served by Jacques Kallis, Andre Russell, who single-handedly won them a couple of matches. However, on the flip side, a team stacked with all-rounders often ends up under-utilising its resources.

With MS Dhoni, Steve Smith and Faf du Plessis on board, you sure have your hands full as the Rising Pune Supergiants coach.

They all have excellent credentials as leaders and I am looking forward to working with them. We all know about MS. Smith is a super batsman with an unorthodox style. It is important to have leaders within the team to be successful.

Having picked up Dhoni, Smith, Du Plessis, Rahane and Ashwin for Rs 39 crore, how do you plan to assemble a top-of-the-line squad with the remaining Rs 27 crore?

As many as 351 players are set to go under the hammer, but there are only a few star players left in the fray. It will be a huge challenge, but we are working on it. Let me assure you that we will have a quality squad for IPL-9 and we will take it from there.