The 2025 season has been a poor one for the Chennai Super Kings. Since the beginning of the Indian Premier League this season, they have been struggling, and this is the two successive year without CSK making the final as well. However, Head Coach Stephen Fleming shared his views on this.
“It’s probably fitting that we’re at the bottom,” said Fleming at the post-match press conference. “We’ve played that type of cricket, so you can’t hide away from it. But what we do want to do is just put a much better performance on the paddock that reflects the ability of the team.”
Despite being eliminated long ago, CSK’s young guns did well this season as the franchise tries to look ahead.
“We don’t obviously like being down here (at the bottom of the points table), but it’s not a motivation. We wanted just a good performance. We’re trying to string some performances together. The aim was two good performances. Now it’ll be one good one to finish,” he shared.
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CSK’s biggest problem in IPL 2025 was the batting and their approach. But, Ayush Mhatre and Dewald Brevis have shown immense promise for the future as well.
“Yeah, our order is not right at this stage, and that is something that we are always looking to rejig. We’ve got some strong ideas for next year, so that all facets are covered. But that hasn’t been possible this year because of the lack of runs at the top. A lot of the batting positions are determined by how well a start we have, and then guys can fall into line. So we haven’t had that. So we’ve been just patching innings up, really, rather than constructing good innings,” he added.
While admitting the Sri Lankan speedster’s struggles, Fleming also chose not to be too critical of Pathirana as well.
“Yeah, it (Pathirana’s form) hasn’t been up to what we want. We have high expectations of him, which is why we retained him. But he is coming back into some form. He was really out of form when we had him in South Africa. He’s made improvements, but it’s still not to where we or he would like. So there’s some room for him to get some form and get some confidence, I guess. But I think he’s just at that crossroads where batsmen are playing him better. They’ve seen more of him. So now he just has to drill down on what he needs to do to be as effective as what he’s been for the first part of his career. It’s a unique skill set, but it’s been a little bit off.”
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Fleming applauded the young pacer Anshul Kamboj, who has also evolved in red-ball cricket. During the 2024 Ranji season, he also became only the third player ever to take all ten wickets in an innings. He has also been named for the India A squad that is set to tour England shortly as well.
“Kamboj is good. His speeds have been around 138, 139 (kph). He is deceptive and the ball always seems to hit the gloves harder. His big strength is his length, and he just gets the ball to wobble. You saw that today on a reasonably flat wicket and he’ll do well on that tour (of England) if he gets conditions that seam a bit and a little bit of swing. He’ll be an absolute handful. He has got some real potential with both white and red ball. We’re happy with his development and the opportunity he has taken this year,” Stephen Fleming concluded.
