CHENNAI: Six losses in as many games at home. Seventh defeat in the last nine games. It is not the place Chennai Super Kings would have wanted to be two games into IPL 2026. The five-time winners found themselves out of place in 2025, missing out on the playoffs two-times in a row for the very first time. They tried to change course midway, signing explosive young batters, and yet found themselves at the bottom of the table.
At the mini auction, where they went in with the second highest purse, CSK invested heavily on young Indian uncapped batters in the hopes of plugging the holes they found last year. Enter the likes of Kartik Sharma, Prashant Veer, and Sarfaraz Khan — all of whom are still finding their feet in the set up. Yet, after the first two games of the 2026 season, Chennai fell short against Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings.
And there is no one who has seen the highs and lows of the franchise as much as head coach Stephen Fleming has. He has been there for five IPL titles, two Champions league titles and also for the low of 2020, 2024 and 2025. On Friday night, the New Zealander once again was at the hot seat, trying to answer questions about the team they put together at the mini auction, the trust the franchise has placed in him to go through with the revamp, the way forward this season and more.
Fleming admitted that the franchise and the team management decided on the revamp midway through 2025 and tried to invest accordingly in the mini auction. He felt they did everything they could despite not signing some of the big names in the bowling department such as Lungi Ngidi, Jacob Duffy, and the rest. “It was not just me but obviously the whole franchise as we reviewed last season may change us halfway through. We had to spend a lot of money on Indian talent to regenerate the franchise and create a foundation moving forward. We lost some key players in terms of creating a core. There was money spent on the future there which has been well documented. I'm trying to think back to the auction process around all those names. I can't remember the dynamics. There was a large list of bowlers that we looked at and missed out on that might have been out of form at the time but are in form now. Trust me, we went over everything,” Fleming explained.
When pressed on the trust CSK have put in him to see through the revamp, Fleming reiterated that the change in approach was a decision made by the franchise and that it is a work in progress. “It's part of a franchise decision to revamp. It's a difficult task but I think we have got some really good talent. This is five or six new players that have started this season but we think they are of high value moving forward. We need performances this year. We are confident in our bowling attack. Bowling is under pressure in the IPL, especially with the Impact Player rule. You have seen players who are taking the game on and their skill set is very high so the whole bowling attacks are under pressure. We need to execute better. There's no doubt about it.”
“The last one was a green seamer (in Guwahati). This our first real under pressure run and we were below where we needed to be. We have been operating and training but there's a lot of pressure on bowling units, especially on good conditions and that again, our first game on home ground and it looks like a good wicket. We're going to have to be defensively a lot better because some of the batting is of high quality and is aggressive and if they have a day it's very difficult. Positive for us is we got 210 batting first, probably could have got a little bit more, a little bit of luck here or there but you're in the game with 210. We just weren't accurate enough and they were ultra-aggressive and played well,” Fleming added.
For someone who has seen the shortest format grow from its inception into the beast it has become and has evolved with it, Fleming acknowledges the rapid pace at which the T20 game is changing. To not just keep up but be ahead of the curve, in this day and age, is not easy as Fleming and CSK have seen in recent years. “It has moved quickly, there's no doubt players have come through, I think with this competition in particular the impact player rule has a massive part to play,” said Fleming.
“Other tournaments around the world it's not as frantic as this. I'm not sure how much longer it's here or if it's here to stay but that certainly changes the dynamic of cricket and probably sways a little bit towards batting power constantly around the world evaluating what's happening and how guys are playing. One of the greatest challenges in T20 franchise cricket is securing talent and that through competitions is becoming difficult as teams bundle players, so that's one of the challenges but we are constantly looking at where the game is going next and trying to secure players that we think will be the next big thing or where the game will go. I'd like to see the balance between bat and ball a little bit more, but look I'm constantly with others looking at that and trying to stay as relevant as possible,” he added.
