Chennai Super Kings (CSK) head coach Stephen Fleming said misreading the nature of the pitch at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium and not utilising its chances cost his side the Indian Premier League 2025 match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Friday.
“We did not get it right. It’s so hard to read but we thought it was going to skid on with the dew but it got a bit tacky. [We missed] A couple of half chances and one real chance, just a little clumsy. They came very hard and we had chances to peg them back but we just let them off the hook. So, 175 would have been realistic but we just were not good enough,” Fleming said after the 50-run reverse, its first since 2008 against RCB at the ground.
The Super Kings handed two reprieves to RCB captain Rajat Patidar, allowing him to notch up a half-century and lead his team to 196 runs in 20 overs. Their reply was jolted when they lost three wickets in the PowerPlay to pacers, who thrived on the two-paced pitch.
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The defeat against the Royal Challengers was CSK’s third at its home venue in six games, and Fleming said a stark contrast in the nature of wickets at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium made it difficult for his team to create a home advantage.
“There’s no home advantage at Chepauk. We’ve won away from home a couple of times and we have not been able to read the wickets here the last couple of years. So it’s not new, we’re trying to come to grips each day with what we get and we don’t know.”
After winning the toss, CSK opted to bowl, expecting its spinners to emulate their returns against Mumbai Indians in their first match. The tweakers took five wickets for 70 runs in 11 overs in that game. On Friday, however, they claimed four wickets and gave away 95 runs in nine overs.
Chennai Super Kings’ Ravindra Jadeja reacts during an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 T20 cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, in Chennai, Friday, March 28, 2025.
| Photo Credit:
PTI
Chennai Super Kings’ Ravindra Jadeja reacts during an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 T20 cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, in Chennai, Friday, March 28, 2025.
| Photo Credit:
PTI
“This one, four or five seamers you [could have] played. Last one was [suitable for] three or four spinners. So, we just have to get better at it but it’s difficult when they all look the same. It is not the Chepauk where we just go and play four spinners. We have had to work very hard to try and understand what the nature of each and every pitch is. What we do have to do is apply ourselves better and make sure that whatever surface we’re on, we’re in the fight,” Fleming said.
Fleming also defended his team’s batting approach. In a league where teams emphasise attacking from the get go, CSK remains an outlier, shifting gears gradually through the innings.
“You talk about firepower, we’re firepower all the way through. Just because we don’t swing from ball one, have a bit of luck go our way, we’ll see at the end; [we’ll] see in the end who wins it. It’s a positive brand of cricket, no doubt about it, but don’t discount us,” he said.
The five-time champion travels to Guwahati next to face the Rajasthan Royals on Sunday.