"The game was lost in the field": Stephen Fleming highlights poor fielding for CSK's miserable run

Chennai Super Kings, who have been one of the most successful teams with five IPL titles, have been rattled by the opponents in the IPL 2025. As of now, CSK has lost four consecutive matches out of five in the ongoing IPL season. The team has only one match in their first clash of the season against the Mumbai Indians. Speaking on CSK's performance, head coach Stephen Fleming has called out poor fielding as the major reason behind the team's miserable outings.

CSK faced an 18-run defeat in their previous match against PBKS on Tuesday, April 8. The team started off well while chasing the target of 220 set by PBKS. However, PBKS pulled things back in their favour with disciplined bowling during the middle phase of the game and emerged victorious. Even the late cameos by Shivam Dubey and MS Dhoni were not enough for CSK to get over the line.

During the post-match conference, he highlighted few positives from the game and said, "The positives are we batted a bit better. We've had some substance from the top order, which was a bit lacking, so 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, 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."

"I thought we were sloppy in the field": Stephen Fleming

Fielding has emerged to be one of the major concerns for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 2025. The team have failed to capitalise on the opportunities that have cost them in the later part of the matches. With just 68.5% catch efficiency, the team has put down 11 catches in five matches of the season.

Speaking on the fielding woes, Fleming said, "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. So that's where the game got away from us. We're 18 runs short in a big run chase, so we can look at three sixes here and there. It's been a frustrating season so far. 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. We weren't too far away."