New Delhi, April 9 (NationPress) The head coach of Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Stephen Fleming, has emphasized a positive takeaway from his team's fourth consecutive defeat in IPL 2025 against the Punjab Kings. He noted that his team remained competitive for a longer duration but acknowledged that CSK struggled to maintain a satisfactory run rate during the middle overs.

While chasing a target of 220, CSK's opening pair, Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra, managed to score 61 runs in just 6.3 overs. However, the early exit of Ruturaj Gaikwad once again revealed the frailties of the middle order, causing the innings to lose momentum at a critical point. Despite a late surge from MS Dhoni, who scored 27 runs off merely 12 balls with three sixes, CSK fell short by 18 runs, concluding their innings at 201/5.

“The positives are we batted a bit better. We've had some substance from the top order, which was a bit lacking. We just weren't able to keep the run rate at a good level through the middle, and it was just too much towards the end. But we've been in the game for a lot longer, which is a positive aspect,” Fleming stated during the post-match press conference.

However, the coach was critical of the team’s sloppy fielding, which turned out to be costly. Priyansh Arya, who scored a stunning 103 off just 42 balls, was dropped twice—first on 6 by Khaleel Ahmed off his own bowling and later on 73 by Mukesh Choudhary at long-off. CSK also failed to catch Shashank Singh on 38, who went on to score an unbeaten 52. These missed opportunities allowed PBKS to accumulate 49 runs in the last four overs, setting a challenging total of 219/6.

“The 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. We were put under pressure by a fine innings (from Arya), but we've got to be better than that in terms of shutting it down. The catching has been poor, but it was poor from both sides tonight. Whether it was something in the light, I’m not sure, but certainly for us that was an area of concern,” Fleming remarked.

He reiterated that CSK's batting strategy still holds potential, particularly with the openers finally finding their rhythm. “If you're going to win the IPL, you need your top three or four to score the majority of the runs. We haven't been doing that, so it was encouraging to see us get off to a more solid start. It’s three hits away, but we just lost a little bit of momentum through the middle,” he concluded.