Chennai’s Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming said that the team was in a “very hurt” after slipping for its fifth defeat in a line, which saw him up to the bottom of the IPL 2025 point table with only two points. Chennai’s Super Kings were very low to celebrate all the season after winning their IPL opener. His season was badly spoiled, CSK captain Ruturaj Gikwad was dropped from IPL 2025 due to a fragmented elbow.
Along with Gaikwad, CSK called the franchise veteran Mahendra Singh Dhoni to get the team out of strict straight. But Fleming has warned against unrealistic expectations from Dhoni’s captaincy.
Fleming said in a pre-game press conference before the IPL 2025 game against Lucknow super veterans, “His (Dhoni’s) influence will always be prominent, but he is not a calm, he has not got a magic wand.” “He could not just rub it in favor otherwise he would have brought it out first.”
Fleming called CSK side to “work together” with Dhoni.
“This is a case that is working very hard with MS and to turn around and definitely in both our cricketing career, we have been in situations that require a lot of energy and we have got to ensure that the energy is kept in the right place.”
Fleming also said that the team was hurting after a coward defeat with Kolkata Knight Riders in the previous game, where CSK could manage to score 103 for just 9, their lowest total in Chennai. Defending champion KKR chased the target in just 10.1 overs, which had eight wickets.
The CSK coach said, “There is a lot of injury that we can turn into inspiration, but it is not about words, it is about the players to grab the moment, find the form, finding their groove and shaking almost any apprehension, which can crawl.”
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Fleming said, “We have seen it in small steps and actually continue to work to do better work on all three aspects and then you start competing.” “I think the disappointing aspect especially in the final game lacked competition that we kept and it hurt it so much. So a lot of internal soul has been discovered, but it is also a lot of work that we need to do and it is important that we exclude a performance that is the representative of the proud franchise that we are.”
