Stephen Fleming attributes CSK’s dismal IPL 2025 performance to fielding errors, saying, “Our catching has been poor all season.”

After the Chennai Super Kings had lost four in a row, most recently to Punjab Kings, head coach Stephen Fleming has blamed the team’s poor performance in the present IPL 2025 on fielding errors. Fleming feels that the five-time champions’ inability to convert opportunities on the pitch has been the difference between triumph and defeat, despite improvements in the batting area.

In their most recent match, CSK lost by 18 runs while attempting to reach 220. With openers Rachin Ravindra and Devon Conway scoring 61 runs inside the powerplay, the squad got off to a fast start. Even a late appearance by Shivam Dube and MS Dhoni couldn’t help them over the finish line, though, as their run-flow slowed in the middle overs.

“We batted a little better, which is a plus. We were able to build the chase after receiving some substance from the top order, which was a little sparse. The run rate was simply too high in the end and we couldn’t maintain it at a good level through the middle. However, we have a lot more experience, which is a plus,” Fleming stated at the news conference held after the game.

That was undoubtedly a concern for us: Stephen Fleming

This season, fielding has been a surprising problem for CSK. They have missed 11 catches in five games, and their catch efficiency of 68.5% is the second-worst in the league. In contrast, the league average for the 2022–2024 cycle was 80.3%. Notably, Priyansh Arya, who was given a lifeline twice before hammering a 39-ball century in the most recent game, was dropped during their innings in each of CSK’s four defeats.

“I thought we were careless in the field, and at times we simply lacked accuracy under pressure. The game was really lost in the field.” Arya put us under pressure with a great innings, but we need to be better than that in stopping it. The game slipped away from us at that point. We may look at three sixes here and there since we are 18 runs short in a massive run chase. Thus far, the season has been difficult. Not only has the catching been bad, but tonight both teams did a bad job. I’m not sure if it was anything in the light, but for us, it was definitely a cause for alarm. The coach went on, “We weren’t that far away.”

CSK’s ageing team has also been linked to the fielding problems. The team has frequently fielded lineups with average ages exceeding 30 since the 2018 Indian Premier League. Age and reflexes have been questioned, but experience has been the primary criterion in their selection.

“Your top three or four players must score the majority of the runs if you want to win the IPL. It was nice to start off on a stronger note because we haven’t been doing that. We couldn’t simply keep up a strong pace through the middle. Maybe we were pushing it too hard, but it was partly due to terrific bowling. We will review it, but it wasn’t a bad chase. We just lost a little bit of momentum over the middle, but it’s only three hits away,” Fleming said.