‘Dhoni not a soothsayer… doesn’t have a magic wand’: CSK coach Stephen Fleming
Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming said that the team was in a “lot of hurt” after they slumped to their fifth defeat in a row which saw them plummet to the bottom of the IPL 2025 points table with just two points. Chennai Super Kings have had little to celebrate all season after winning their IPL opener. What made their season go from bad to worse was CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad being ruled out of IPL 2025 due to a fractured elbow.
With Gaikwad out, CSK called on franchise legend Mahendra Singh Dhoni to lead the team out of dire straits. But Fleming has warned against unrealic expectations from Dhoni’s captaincy.
“His [Dhoni’s] influence will be always prominent but he’s not a soothsayer, he hasn’t got a magic wand,” Fleming said at the pre-game press conference before the IPL 2025 game against Lucknow Super Giants. “He can’t just rub it over the side otherwise he would have brought it out earlier.”
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Fleming called on the CSK side to “work together” with Dhoni.
“It’s a case of us working very hard along with MS to turn it around and certainly in both of our cricketing careers, we’ve been in situations that require a lot of energy and we’ve got to make sure that the energy is put in the right place.”
Fleming also said that the team was hurting after their timid defeat to the Kolkata Knight Riders in the previous game where CSK could just manage to score 103 for 9, their lowest total in Chennai. Defending champion KKR chased down the target in just 10.1 overs with eight wickets in hand.
“There’s a lot of hurt that we can turn to motivation but it’s not about words, it’s about players grabbing the moment, finding form, finding their groove and almost shaking off any apprehension which can creep in,” said the CSK coach.Story continues below this ad
“We’ve got to look at it in small steps and just continue to work to get better at all three facets really and then you start competing,” Fleming added. “I think the disappointing aspect in particular the last game was the lack of competition we put up and that hurt a lot. So there’s certainly been a lot of internal soul searching but also a lot of work around what we need to do and it’s important that we put a performance out that is representative of the proud franchise that we are.”
