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Chennai Super Kings find themselves win-less after two matches in IPL 2026, Punjab Kings chasing 210 with eight balls unused to add to CSK’s opening-night reverse. The scorecard tells its own story: CSK’s attack has shipped 338 runs in 30.5 overs for just seven wickets.
Head coach Stephen Fleming, never one for knee-jerk reactions, fronted up afterwards. “Trust me, we went over everything,” he said when asked about the auction strategy. CSK had considered a long list of quicks. Lungi Ngidi, now starring elsewhere, was overlooked; bids for Ben Dwarshuis and Jason Holder fell short; Gerald Coetzee was signed for the Joburg and Texas sister teams, not for Chennai. When Nathan Ellis pulled out injured, the franchise turned to left-armer Spencer Johnson, who is still en route.
Early pattern: weak bowling, big trouble
Two rounds in, the league already looks unforgiving for sides light on bowling depth. Fleming’s men conceded at 10.96 an over against Punjab, conceding the initiative each time they threatened to claw it back. Captain Ruturaj Gaikwad felt the tipping point arrived in the 13th over.
“We thought the game was in the balance,” Gaikwad said. “[But] just when the over was going really well, we conceded that six or a boundary. The pressure didn’t really build.” At one stage the required rate flicked past eleven; a tight couple of overs, Gaikwad reckoned, could have forced it to 12 or 13. “That’s how you gain momentum. So I think we just didn’t get that momentum in the middle.”
Spin gamble misfires
Reading the surface through Yuzvendra Chahal’s earlier spell (3-0-21-1), Gaikwad deployed Rahul Chahar as impact substitute and paired him with Noor Ahmad. Between them they went for 84 in eight wicketless overs. “That’s what cost us,” the skipper admitted.
Fleming, meanwhile, broadened the discussion. He believes the newly-entrenched impact-player law – allowing sides to replace one of their XI during the match – is tilting the contest towards batting power. “Other tournaments around the world, it’s not as frantic as this. I’m not sure how much longer it [the rule] is here for or if it’s here to stay. But that certainly changes the dynamic of cricket and probably sways a little bit towards batting power.”
Even so, he refused to hide behind regulations. “Bowling is under pressure in the IPL, especially with the impact [player] rule. … We need to execute better, there’s no doubt about it,” Fleming said. He called Friday’s match CSK’s “first real under-pressure run” after their opener on a green seamer; by his own measure, they fell short of established standards.
Auction hindsight, selection foresight
Could Chennai have been bolder at the table? Fleming would not single out missed names but conceded that form cycles quickly. Players inconsistent last December can look irresistible by April. For now the coaching staff must wring more from the resources at hand: Deepak Chahar’s swing up top, Mustafizur Rahman’s cutters at the death, and a spin group that usually prides itself on control.
A reminder: the season is barely a week old. CSK have recovered from similar starts before, and a fit Spencer Johnson may offer left-arm variation they plainly lack. Yet Fleming sounded a quiet warning. Everyone, he said, “is going at a rate of knots,” and Chennai cannot afford to linger in the noughts for long.
