Fleming feels the surfaces in Chennai are not as spin-friendly as they used to be.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) head coach Stephen Fleming admitted that his team hasn’t been able to read pitches properly at home. Last night, CSK suffered a massive 50-run defeat against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), putting on an abysmal show.
Fleming feels the surfaces in Chennai are not as spin-friendly as they used to be, and his team doesn’t know what kind of pitch they are playing on. The admission comes after CSK built a spin-heavy squad and played three spinners in the first two games of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.
“Well, as we’ve been telling you for a number of years, there was no home advantage at Chepauk. We’ve won away from home a couple of times. And we haven’t been able to read… we’ve been really honest with you. We haven’t been able to read the wickets here in the last couple of years. So, it’s not new. We are trying to come to grips each day with what we get, and we don’t know.”
Barring Noor Ahmad, who took three wickets but was slightly expensive, the other two CSK tweakers – Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja – had poor outings with the ball against RCB. The duo conceded 11.80 runs per over while taking only a solitary wicket, and neither finished their quota.
Since 2023, IPL has returned to its original home and away format. The spinners have snared 86 wickets at an average of 28.34 and leaked 7.61 runs per over in Chepauk. CSK spinners have averaged 28.67, with an economy rate of 7.27 in this period.
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In IPL 2018 and 2019, spinners dismissed a batter every 19.52 deliveries and conceded only 6.16 runs per over in Chennai. So, Fleming’s assumption is right that spinners haven’t had enough assistance, as was the case previously, and the results haven’t been favouring.
Between 2018 and 2019, CSK won 77.77% of their home matches, but the number has come down to 64.70% since 2023. Teams like Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) have found ample success here.
That CSK played three spinners in both matches in IPL 2025 depicts that they expected the ball to do more for slow bowlers, which didn’t happen, especially against RCB. It did slow down and grip in the second innings. But CSK chose to bowl first, again showing their failure in reading conditions.
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