Chennai Super Kings Struggle with Home Advantage in IPL 2025

Chennai's Ongoing Pitch Challenges

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India] - After their defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the IPL 2025 on Friday, Stephen Fleming, the head coach of Chennai Super Kings, expressed concerns about the team's inability to adapt to the Chennai pitch over recent years, as reported by a Media House.

During the IPL 2025 mega auction, the franchise focused on acquiring spinners, anticipating that the MA Chidambaram Stadium would favor slow bowlers. However, this strategy did not pay off in their second home match of the season, where they lost to RCB by a margin of 50 runs.

In the post-match press conference, Fleming remarked that the team has not been able to leverage their home ground advantage, citing difficulties in reading the pitch conditions in recent years. He stated, “As we’ve mentioned before, there hasn’t been a home advantage at Chepauk. We’ve managed to win a few away games, but we’ve struggled to interpret the wickets here lately. It’s an ongoing challenge for us.”

In the previous IPL season, the Chepauk pitches did not favor spinners, which has traditionally been a strength for Chennai. In IPL 2024, spinners took only 25 wickets, while fast bowlers claimed 74.

Fleming added, “This isn’t the Chepauk we used to know, where we could easily field four spinners. We are working hard to understand the characteristics of each pitch, which have changed significantly.”

In the IPL 2025 match against RCB, effective bowling from pacers Josh Hazlewood and Yash Dayal led to a 50-run victory for RCB over the team led by Ruturaj Gaikwad at Chepauk Stadium.

With two victories in as many matches, RCB currently sits at the top of the points table. This win marked RCB's first triumph against CSK at Chepauk since 2008, with Rajat Patidar earning the Player of the Match award for his impressive fifty in the first innings.