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After finishing past successful 2025, Chennai Super Kings rang successful large changes to its squad up of this season. However, the fortunes haven’t changed connected the tract for the five-time champion, which suffered its 2nd consecutive defeat of IPL-19 against Punjab Kings successful Chennai connected Friday (March 3, 2026).
Defending 209, CSK failed to asseverate power during PBKS’ chase. There appeared to beryllium a deficiency of vigor connected the field, and it is thing skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad needs to code astatine the earliest.
Even arsenic the squad focused connected addressing the batting woes, it was evident that the bowling onslaught lacked extent to occupation bully sides.
Nathan Ellis was the cardinal to the gait attack, but erstwhile helium was ruled out, the equilibrium went off-kilter. Considering the situation, the determination to bring successful Spencer Johnson arsenic Ellis’ replacement contempt not being disposable for different 3 weeks is confounding. By the clip the left-arm seamer — who hasn’t played a lucifer for astir a twelvemonth — tin join, it mightiness beryllium excessively late.
At the auction, the Chennai outfit failed to unafraid a suitable backup for Ellis, specified arsenic Lungi Ngidi oregon Jacob Duffy, who were picked up by rivals astatine their basal prices. Similarly, CSK did not prime an overseas middle-order/finisher arsenic screen for Dewald Brevis, whose lack successful the archetypal 2 encounters hasn’t helped the cause.
The information that the Super Kings fielded lone 2 overseas players against PBKS highlighted the squad’s imbalance.
CSK caput manager Stephen Fleming, though, defended the franchise’s auction strategy.
“Around each those names talked astir and mentioned, I don’t retrieve the dynamics. There was a ample database of bowlers that we looked astatine and missed retired connected those who mightiness person been retired of signifier astatine the time, but are successful signifier now, but spot me, we went implicit everything,” said Fleming.
“We request to execute (our plans) better, there’s nary uncertainty astir it. There’s a batch of unit connected bowling units, particularly successful bully (batting) conditions. It was our archetypal crippled connected this ground, and it looked similar a bully wicket. We person to beryllium defensively a batch amended due to the fact that immoderate of the batting is of precocious quality, and if they person a (good) day, it’s precise difficult,” helium added.
