IPL 2025: 'There was no home advantage at Chepauk' - CSK coach Stephen Fleming after crushing loss to RCB

After Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Ajinkya Rahane, it is now the turn of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) head coach Stephen Fleming to say his team had 'no home advantage' at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk. The former New Zealand captain's statement came after CSK were handed a crushing 50-run defeat against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). This was RCB's second victory in Chepauk after tasting victory in 2008. Fleming acknowledged that his team failed horribly to read the surface properly.

The CSK coach stated at the post-match press conference that the team found it extremely difficult to figure out the conditions which were laid out to them against RCB. Fleming said that CSK did not have any advantage at the MA Chidambaram surface for the last two years and accepted that the team was caught off guard by the massive impact of dew and was thoroughly outplayed by Rajat Patidar & Co. at fortress Chepauk.

“We have been telling you for many years, that there was no home advantage at Chepauk - 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 - it’s so hard to read,” said Fleming.

CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad rues missed opportunities & poor batting display as reason for loss to RCB

While Fleming said there was no home advantage, CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad stated that his team lost the match due to poor fielding and lack of runs from top-order batters. CSK dropped rival skipper Patidar two times, and that cost them the game. First, Deepak Hooda dropped the RCB batter on 17 runs, and later Khaleel Ahmed dropped him, though it was a difficult catch. Patidar went on to score a match-winning 51 run knock and helped RCB post a huge score of 196 on a spin-friendly Chepauk surface.

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“Bad day in the fielding cost us really badly. When you’re chasing 20 runs extra on a wicket where you know it’s going to be a little bit sticky, and it’s going to stop after the ball gets old, you have to bat slightly differently in the powerplay. Still happy that we didn’t lose by a big margin, and at the end, it was just 50 runs,” said Gaikwad in the post-match presentation.