CHENNAI: Six defeats in as many matches at home. Seventh loss in the last nine games. It’s not where Chennai Super Kings would want to play two matches in IPL 2026. The five-time winners find themselves out of the country in 2025, losing in the play-offs twice in a row for the first time. They tried to change course midway, signing explosive young batters, and still found themselves at the bottom of the table.
In the mini auction, where they entered with the second-highest purse, CSK invested heavily in the Indian uncapped youngsters, hoping to plug 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. However, after the first two matches of the 2026 season, Chennai fell short against Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings.
And no one has seen the highs and lows of the franchise as much as coach Stephen Fleming has. He has been there for five IPL titles, two Champions League titles and also for the underdogs of 2020, 2024 and 2025. On Friday night, the New Zealander was back in the hot seat, trying to answer questions about the squad they assembled in a mini-auction, the confidence the franchise has given him going forward with the season renewal and more.
Fleming acknowledged that the franchise and team management decided on the mid-2025 renewal and tried to invest accordingly in the mini-auction. He felt they did their best despite not signing some of the big names in the bowling department like Lungi Ngidi, Jacob Duffy and others. “It wasn’t just me, but obviously the whole franchise as we looked last season could change us halfway through. We had to spend a lot of money on Indian talent to regenerate the franchise and create a foundation going forward. We lost some key players in terms of building a core. There was money spent on the future there, which is well documented. I’m trying to think of all the names that can remember the process. The big list of footballers we looked at and lost who might have been out of shape at the time but are fit now, believe me, we’ve been through everything,” Fleming explained.
