CSK's Stephen Fleming Blasts His Own Pitch Curator After RCB Loss

The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) head coach, Stephen Fleming, has blasted the MA Chidambaram Stadium curator after their record defeat against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. In the past, they have depended a lot on their spinners, but the current track has assisted the seamers more in the new edition.

The 2023 champions, since the 2019 season, haven’t received the same help from the Chennai surface as they would have loved. This has backfired on their strategy of three spinners, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Noor Ahmed, in the playing eleven.

CSK head coach blasts Chennai curator after defeat vs RCB

During the second game of the IPL 2025, the fast bowlers enjoyed help off the surface, as RCB’s two new ball pacers, Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, broke Chennai’s back with combined figures of 4/41 in seven overs to shut them down in the chase of 197 runs.

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“Well, as we've been telling you for several 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.” The former CSK batter expressed in the post-match press conference after their biggest defeat at home.

“We've been honest with you, and 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.” Fleming addressed.

The Chepauk track, during the IPL 2024, didn’t suit the spinners, which is the traditional strength of CSK. In the previous edition, the fast bowlers picked up 74 wickets while the spinners claimed 25 at the venue last season.

“It's not the Chepauk (of old) where you can just go in and play four spinners. We're having to work hard to try and understand what the nature of each pitch is, and it's quite different.” Fleming mentioned.

Stephen Fleming blames slow surface for CSK’s failure in 197-run chase

The pitch for the RCB game was much slower than the one they used against the Mumbai Indians. On a slow surface, the captains generally want to bat first and put a score on the board to put pressure on the opponents. But keeping dew in mind, CSK decided to field first.

"No, we didn't 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. So, it certainly made it harder here.” The former New Zealand captain revealed.

The veteran also reckoned that the Chennai batters are not known for power hitting from the start. He also claimed that one failure doesn’t make them a bad side overnight.

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“We talk about firepower, and we have firepower all the way through. I don't understand this question. Just because we don't swing from ball one and have a little bit of luck go away, we'll see at the end. Just see at the end who wins it. It's a positive brand of cricket, no doubt about it, but don't discount us.” Stephen Fleming concluded.

CSK earns first home defeat vs RCB after 17 seasons

Bengaluru batted first to post 196/7 in their allotted 20 overs. The three-time runners-up of the tournament earned the momentum after Tim David nailed an unbeaten 22-run knock in just eight balls.

Losing three wickets in the powerplay didn’t set the chase for the Super Kings. Rachin Ravindra threw his wicket away after making 41 runs in 31 balls. They ended with 146/8 in 20 overs and fell short of the target by 50 runs.