Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming highlighted his side's improved batting performance in Tuesday's narrow loss against Punjab Kings. However, the CSK coach slammed the team's poor fielding and bowling after their fourth consecutive IPL 2025 loss.
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00:00Well, firstly, he had a day out, didn't he? He played very well right from the first ball.
00:05It's very brave when you come off a first ball dismissal to look to play a shot like that.
00:11Our fault was we were too wide. The plan was to bowl straight at the stumps and create some pressure that way.
00:17The first ball we bowled straight, we created a court and bowl chance, and that changes the night quite drastically.
00:23So we were just a little bit sloppy. We were put under pressure, and the young man had some amazing shots.
00:29We succumbed a little bit to that pressure by putting the ball in areas that he was stronger in, and we just didn't adjust quick enough.
00:38He counted us, and as I say, he played some beautiful shots, and when batsmen at the other end are faltering,
00:44it's pretty special to go out and create the innings yourself, and that was what he was doing for the majority of the game.
00:53And again, adding to that, what were the bowling plans exactly going into the Romney dimensions that you saw?
01:02It wasn't that much difference, to be fair. There was a few yards in it, but that didn't have a big bearing on the game.
01:09The ball tends to fly here, so last year and this year, that you get really good value for shots.
01:13So you see a lot of sixes, and it was no different tonight. The ball was flying.
01:18So yeah, there wasn't a big enough discrepancy in boundary sizes to make a big difference.
01:24Stephen, it was tough enough game for you. You have one second close, but yet so far.
01:34So what was the plan like? You failed to chase the target in the last match as well. This was the same script again.
01:40So what are the positives you could take from this game, and will there be any starting changes in the games to come?
01:46Well, positive-wise, we battled a bit better. We got some substance from the top order, which has been lacking.
01:52So we were able to then construct the chase. We just weren't able to keep the run rate at a good level through the middle,
02:00and it just left too much towards the end. But we've been out of game, so to be in a game for a lot longer is a positive aspect.
02:07The game was really lost in the field. I thought we were sloppy in the field, and we just lacked accuracy under pressure at certain times.
02:14We were put under pressure by fine innings, but we've got to be better than that in terms of shutting it down.
02:20So that's where the game got away from us. And we're 18 runs short in a big run chase, so we can look at three sixes here and there.
02:28So, yeah, it's a frustrating season so far. The catching has been poor, but it was poor from both sides tonight.
02:36Whether it was something in the light, I'm not sure. But certainly for us, that was an area of concern.
02:42If you want to pick up 20 runs, it's probably that and drop catches, yeah.
02:46Yeah. Stephen says we see that there is a new rule of the using of two new bosses at the other end, especially in the second innings.
02:54So how does you think has impacted the game so much? Especially we have seen in the second innings the advantages given to the team which is boring.
03:02So what's your side of this?
03:04I'm not sure, mate. We haven't bowled second yet. We've been chasing, so I'm not sure how often it's been used.
03:11Certainly our games up until now haven't had a lot of dues, so there hasn't been a need to change.
03:16So I don't think it's had a big impact so far. But I did note tonight there was a bit more due in the second innings.
03:22So I haven't seen enough to give you an accurate answer on that. Sorry.
03:28Yes, sir.
03:32Hi Stephen. Hi.
03:34First of all, if you talk about batting in the previous matches, we saw that the openers were struggling a bit.
03:41Yeah.
03:42In today's match, Devin Conway did really well, but then the fagging of the match, again, the batters were struggling a bit.
03:49Do you think it's the top order issue or it's the middle order issue and how do you want to go about it in the coming matches?
03:56We weren't too far away today. We had innings of substance in the top.
03:59If you're going to win the IPL, you need your top three slash four to get a majority of the runs.
04:04We haven't been doing that. So it was pleasing that we got off to a more solid start.
04:09We weren't able to just maintain a high momentum through the middle, partly to good bowling and maybe we were trying to push it too hard.
04:17It'll be something we'll review. But it's not a bad chase. It's, what, three hits away.
04:24But we just lost a little bit of momentum through the middle.