After their match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, where they suffered the first of their eight losses this season, Stephen Fleming was asked if their methodical approach to building an innings — start slowly, pick up pace, and end with a flourish — had become antiquated. For the first time in his 15 seasons as the team's head coach, the normally calm Kiwi lost his temper during the conversation. “You talk about firepower. We have got firepower all the way through. I don’t understand this question. Just because we don’t swing from ball No. 1 and have some luck go our way, just see the end, who wins it. It is a positive brand of cricket. Don’t discount us.”
Nobody is counting CSK in the race to the playoffs, even if there's still a month of the IPL left. As of right now, they became the first team to be eliminated. CSK have fallen to a number of low points this season. They have lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad in Chennai for the first time since 2008; they had never lost more than two games in a row at home before, but now they have lost five straight games at Chepauk. It is their worst home loss record ever and by the time their campaign comes to an end, the list could be endless.
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Fleming has discussed the need to adhere to their philosophy of playing with experienced players in each of the subsequent defeats and in multiple subsequent interviews with the media. He has even expressed concern about the fact that young, uncapped Indian batsmen are hitting from ball one without learning the subtleties of batting.
However, Fleming stated that CSK's performance this season might compel them to reconsider, considering how their season has gone and how other teams have profited by investing in uncapped gems who are winning games on their own with high-risk cricket.
“I’m a believer that the game hasn’t evolved that much,” Fleming remarked at the end of their match against Hyderabad. “All around there is a bit of chaos, isn’t there, with teams playing well (by targeting boundaries and playing high-risk shots). And I think I said it in a grumpy interview a few weeks ago that we’ll see towards the end of the tournament which team will come through. And it’s an intriguing watch to see settled sides and teams with younger sort of flair battling it out and watching the cream rise. And I will watch with interest to see towards the end what the highest run-scorers are and what teams are doing well, because that’s part of the reflection as you move forward.”
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It's not like Chennai and Fleming have been too rigid. In response to their first-ever failure to qualify for the playoffs in 2020, they brought in players who would play daring middle-overs cricket and won the championship in 2021. They decided to invest in batting depth in 2023 after missing out on the playoffs in 2022, and they ultimately won the championship once more.
But this time around, there are more important questions than ever before because they have missed the final four in consecutive seasons. Even though Chennai plans to have a new look next season, it is still unclear who they would turn to given that their two wins so far this season occurred just after the mega player auctions.
It seems unlikely that other teams will release the best Indian players, and the same is true for uncapped local players who have already established themselves. Therefore, it begs the question of whether Chennai made a mistake in selecting their bids at the auction table as well as in their five retentions. First, there were many discussions about replacing MS Dhoni with a different face before to the retention deadline, and Rishabh Pant was on the wish list. However, they changed their focus because they had Ruturaj Gaikwad and Pant was in demand elsewhere.
Months after he declared his retirement from Twenty20 Internationals, CSK then made a commitment to Ravindra Jadeja, keeping him for an incredible Rs 18 crore. When players like KL Rahul only cost Rs 14 crore, Shivam Dube was retained for Rs 12 crore. They also spent Rs 9.75 crore on Ashwin and Rs 10 crore on Noor Ahmad at the auction after deciding to trust seasoned players. As a result, Chennai were outbid for players like Rahul, Liam Livingstone, and Glenn Maxwell and was unable to pursue elite batsmen for very long. Ultimately, they were forced to forgo the specialists in favor of utility players Vijay Shankar, Deepak Hooda, and Rahul Tripathi.
Some young names submitted by their talent scouts were not even taken into consideration at the auction table, raising suspicions behind the scenes at CSK. While teams are looking to local T20 competitions for undiscovered potential, CSK still seem hesitant to go that way. The team's scouting team recommended Priyansh Arya, the newest fresh star that the franchise has overlooked. Sai Sudharsan and Varun Chakaravarthy have already gone through them. In addition, there isn't a front-line wicketkeeper beyond Dhoni, who at 43 is still their go-to leader in dire situations.
“It is hard to say we got it completely right with the performances that we have had,” Fleming said of the auction. “And it is not easy. And that is why we are proud of our record today. We have been able to be consistent for so long and it doesn’t take much for it to go another way. Other teams have got better and that is the point of the auction. But we just haven’t been able to get it right.”
The immediate future won't alter either until a significant course adjustment is made.
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