Cliff Notes – Fleming says poor results have forced CSK to ‘bring all squad members into play’
- CSK’s disappointing performance in IPL 2025 has led to a shift towards incorporating younger players, with coach Stephen Fleming stating they will utilise more squad members than in previous seasons.
- The team is currently at the bottom of the points table, having suffered a five-match losing streak, prompting significant changes including the inclusion of 17-year-old Ayush Mhatre and 21-year-old Dewald Brevis.
- Following a recent victory against Lucknow Super Giants, CSK is focusing on improving their batting, with Fleming emphasising the need for senior players like Ravindra Jadeja to step up and contribute significantly.
Fleming says poor results have forced CSK to ‘bring all squad members into play’
Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) performances and results in IPL 2025 have forced them to break away from their preference of fielding largely unchanged teams, and give younger talent an opportunity.
CSK play Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede on Sunday in what is fast becoming a must-win situation for them. They are languishing at the bottom of the points table; they have the worst net run-rate so far; they have hit new lows such as losing five games in a row – three on the bounce at home – for the first time in a season.
After bringing in 17-year-old Ayush Mhatre for the injured Ruturaj Gaikwad and 21-year-old Dewald Brevis for Gurjapneet Singh earlier this week, CSK coach Stephen Fleming said they would be playing “more players this year in the squad than what we have done before”.
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“Our results to date have brought all the squad members into play,” Fleming said. “It’s been our tradition in the past to stick with more experienced players and they’ve given us the results that we were after. But when you don’t get the results you’re looking for, all the squad members, their philosophies, are tested and certainly you’ve seen by the addition of players and the use of players that we will be using more players this year in the squad than what we have done before.
“Again, we’re still in the mix in this tournament, but if things don’t go our way and there’s quite a lot of games that we can look at, how we move forward in a positive way, but we’re still focused very much on being part of this tournament right to the end.”
CSK broke their losing streak in their last game, with a five-wicket win over Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), and took the big call of leaving out 38-year-old R Ashwin and 33-year-old Devon Conway for the younger option of Shaik Rasheed, who is 20, at the top. It fetched them results straightaway as Rasheed took off with 27 off 19 on IPL debut in an opening stand of 52 in under five overs with Rachin Ravindra.
Fleming said even though they won while chasing, batting had been their “weakest” suit and he expected them “to step up”.
“We want a certain amount of runs; we need everybody to step up and they’re well aware of that and it’s a case of giving one or two [wins] underway,” he said. “So back to my answer before – we’ve had the cameos, but nothing of substance. To win the competition you need the top three or four to get 75% of the runs. And if you look at the teams at the top of the table right now, that is the case. We’re well aware as a team and as individuals what they need to do, and we’re hoping someone will grab that tomorrow.
“So, look, it’s all there, we just need a little bit more. It’s middling to fair; we need good to excellent if we’re going to stay in this competition and keep getting better. We are going to miss Gaikwad – he’s a class batter at No. 3 – you need a batter in that top three. And so we are trying to fill that hole. But it’s an opportunity that the likes of Rachin needs to step up and take, or Conway if he gets the opportunity, or a couple of the young players, whoever it is, they’re well aware that we need a bit more.”
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Fleming said leaving out someone like Ashwin was “always hard” and CSK were going to decide their combinations on the basis of their opponents and try and get the “right balance”.
Ravindra Jadeja, 36, has also not been close to his best either with bat or ball – he has scored 92 runs off the 80 balls he has faced while averaging 18.40 from seven innings so far. He has not been impressive with the ball either, with just four wickets from 16.1 overs and an economy rate of 8.53, much higher than 20-year-old Noor Ahmad’s 7.12, who also has 12 wickets.
In the last game, CSK moved Jadeja up to No. 4 and Fleming said it was to give him “more of an opportunity”. “Just having Jadeja up the order now for a little bit of time. We’ve given the opportunity to do that for a period of time,” Fleming said. “Bowling wise, last couple of games have been very good – last game was excellent – and I hope that form continues.
“We need him with the bat, we need all of our players with the bat to step up, we haven’t really had any such substance so far. We’ve been doing it bits and pieces. And Jadeja being one of the senior batters, would be nice for him to do it.”