Best way to stop Smith was to buy him: Fleming

NEW DELHI: Every team looks for a flying start in T20 cricket. IPL 7 league leaders Chennai Super Kings have been the luckiest in this regard with their new opening combo of Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum firing on all cylinders.
Both foreign stars have been new additions to the two-time IPL champs' line-up - Smith bought for Rs 4.5 crore and McCullum for Rs 3.5 crore. The move has proved a masterstroke and they have reaped the rewards from the first game itself, both openers being in the list of top-scorers.
New Zealand skipper McCullum has 249 runs in six games, just seven short of his opening partner and both of them have three fifties. CSK coach Stephen Fleming feels his Kiwi recruit brings so much more to the team apart from his batting.
"I enjoyed my time in the New Zealand team with Brendon, although he was a very young man back then. He brings a lot of things to the team and the best of that is the leadership qualities," Fleming said about McCullum, who scored a match-winning 56 against Kolkata Knight Riders last week.
With skipper MS Dhoni doing his duty behind the stumps, McCullum has been superb in the outfield as well. "He combines so well with Faf (Du Plessis), (Suresh) Raina and (Ravindra) Jadeja on the field. But his opening partnership with Smith has been just magnificent for the team," CSK coach said.
The decision to bring West Indian all-rounder on board was a rather simple one. Smith has been phenomenal for Mumbai Indians in the past and the defending champions are paying for letting him go.
"Smith had scored so heavily against us in the past, one way to stop him was buying him at the auction," Fleming felt.