Follow UsThe Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are being asked many questions after they lost two games in a row in the ongoing 2025 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
While the five-time champions won their first game against Mumbai Indians (MI) by four wickets, it has been an uphill battle for the team in yellow as batting failed them in the next two games, and they lost both the run chases against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) respectively.
Speaking after the six-run loss against RR, coach Stephen Fleming remarked that he isn’t too perturbed by these two defeats, and such things are common in a long tournament like this IPL. He also mentioned that he liked the fight shown by the CSK batters in the RR game.
“I was a little bit grumpy in the last game [against RCB] just with probably the way we read the wicket and the way we played. This game [against RR], we were in the fight, which is I'm okay with it. We can get a lot better and that excites me but I do get aware that time goes pretty quickly in this competition,” Fleming said.
"We've won one out of three. It's not all bad. The competition's about that - everyone's sort of beating each other. A couple of teams are up the top. But the way we respond, the resilience to a loss like this is always very important.
“Going back home, I just hope we can get a wicket that we can understand and play well on with the weapons that we've got. But it's not all bad. We did some good things but we just need to tidy up a few others."
Fleming mentioned how the team had to rearrange itself after the auction, and the pieces are still fitting in their slots on the side.
“The start of a three-year cycle is always a little bit difficult, especially if you're just short of a little bit of form and we are pushing hard to try and find that form but we're making mistakes doing it,” the Kiwi coach said.
“(We're) Not far away, just as much as I pointed out the first six overs where we bowled weren't great, I thought the next 14 were outstanding. You can see the potential that's there and a little bit better with the bat but still some work to go, no doubt about it.”
Fleming also highlighted that CSK need to be better in the powerplay and field better to win from hereon.
"If you analyse the game, it's probably the two powerplays (which made the difference)," Fleming remarked after the RR loss in Guwahati.
"Our powerplay with the ball went for the best part of 80 runs (79), and we were only able to manage the mid-40s or early 40s (42). That's on the scoreboard the big difference, and we were also sloppy in the field compared to Rajasthan who were outstanding."