Chennai Super Kings are two games into IPL 2026 and already facing uncomfortable questions. Back-to-back defeats, a bowling attack that has leaked 338 runs in just 30.5 overs for seven wickets, and a coach trying to make sense of an auction that, in hindsight, has left his side dangerously exposed. Stephen Fleming was candid after Punjab Kings chased down 210 with eight balls to spare at Chepauk, but candour alone does not fix a bowling attack that is coming apart at the seams.
“We were below where we needed to be, where we have been operating and training,” Fleming said after the loss. It was a measured admission from a man who has spent 16 years coaching this franchise, but the problems run deeper than one difficult evening with the ball.
The Auction That Came Back to Haunt Them
The names that got away are already haunting CSK’s start to the season. Lungi Ngidi, released ahead of the auction, has been creating viral moments with his slower ball for a rival franchise. CSK had the opportunity to bring him back. They chose not to. They went hard for Ben Dwarshuis and Jason Holder and missed out on both. Gerald Coetzee, who they have worked with through their association with Joburg Super Kings and Texas Super Kings, is also not in Chennai’s ranks this season.
Stephen Fleming was honest about the process without being entirely forthcoming on the specifics.
“I’m trying to think back to the auction process,” he said. “There was a large list of bowlers that we looked at and missed out on that might have been out of form at the time but are in form now. But trust me, we went over everything.”
To compound matters, Nathan Ellis picked up an injury and his replacement, Spencer Johnson, is yet to even join the squad. CSK are effectively going into matches a bowling option short before a ball has been bowled.
A Game That Slipped Through the Middle Overs
Captain Ruturaj Gaikwad felt the match was still in the balance around the 13th over of Punjab’s chase, with two quick wickets having given CSK a foothold. But the momentum never fully built. “Just when the over was going really well, we conceded that six or a boundary,” Gaikwad said. “The pressure didn’t really build.”
Gaikwad had opted to bring Rahul Chahar in as the impact substitution through the middle overs, pairing him with Noor Ahmad, partly on the basis of Yuzvendra Chahal’s earlier performance with the ball. Neither Chahar nor Noor had good nights. Chahar went for 46 in four overs without taking a wicket. Noor conceded 38 in his four. “That’s what cost us,” Gaikwad admitted plainly.
Stephen Fleming on the Changing Face of T20 Cricket
Beyond the immediate frustrations, Stephen Fleming offered a broader and more striking observation about where T20 cricket has arrived. After one and a half decades of coaching in the format, he has reached a conclusion that cuts to the heart of how the game is being played in 2026.
“I don’t think there is a thing called finishers anymore,” he said. “It’s right from ball one, everyone is going at a rate of knots. It’s not build up to the 16th over and then go harder. Everyone is going hard from ball one. So the run rates of 10, 11, 12 all the way through are what’s expected.”
The Impact Player rule, Fleming believes, has tilted the balance decisively towards batting. CSK won the title in the rule’s first year in 2023, but have missed the playoffs in 2024 and finished bottom of the table in 2025. The correlation is hard to ignore. “Other tournaments around the world, it’s not as frantic as this,” he said. “That certainly changes the dynamic of cricket and probably sways a little bit towards batting power.”
Fleming also pointed to the growing difficulty of securing bowling talent in a landscape where IPL franchises are bundling players across multiple global leagues, limiting availability and driving up competition for the best names.
What Comes Next
Stephen Fleming was not without hope. He pointed to Dewald Brevis waiting in the wings and, notably, to MS Dhoni, who is currently sidelined with an injury but remains, in his coach’s eyes, one of the best finishers the game has produced.
Whether Dhoni’s return changes CSK’s fortunes with the bat is one question. Whether this bowling attack can find enough to be competitive across a full IPL season is quite another. Two games in, Chennai have more problems than answers. The tournament has barely begun, and already the pressure is building.
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