Chennai Super Kings' head coach Stephen Fleming has expressed that the team has struggled to read the pitch in recent times. His comments follow CSK’s 50-run loss to RCB. This defeat, which came at the Chepauk – CSK’s home ground, traditionally a fortress for the team – highlighted some ongoing issues that the team have yet to address.
"Well, as we've been telling you for a number of years, there was no home advantage at Chepauk. We've won away from home a couple of times. And we haven't been able to read… we've been really honest with you. We haven't been able to read the wickets here in the last couple of years. So, it's not new. We are trying to come to grips each day with what we get, and we don't know," Fleming said in the press conference.
“It's not the Chepauk [of old] where you can just go in and play four spinners. We're having to work really hard to try and understand what the nature of each pitch is, and it's quite different,” he added.
Nothing worked in Chennai’s favour on Friday as their decision to bowl first and continue with the spinners backfired really badly.
“No, we didn't get it right. It's so hard to read, but we thought it was going to skid on with the dew, but it actually got a bit tacky. So, it certainly made it harder here,” Fleming said.