CSK head coach Fleming: 'Dhoni doesn't have a magic wand'

With Chennai Super Kings (CSK) suffering five straight losses in six games and rooted at the bottom of the IPL 2025 points table, their head coach Stephen Fleming said that making a comeback would be a "big challenge" and MS Dhoni's return to being captain in place of the injured Ruturaj Gaikwad wouldn't change the team's fortunes overnight.

"His [Dhoni's] influence will be always prominent but he's not a soothsayer, he hasn't got a magic wand," Fleming told reporters on the eve of the match against Lucknow Super Giants. "He can't just rub it over the side otherwise he would have brought it out earlier.

"It's a case of us working very hard along with MS to turn it around and certainly in both of our cricketing careers, we've been in situations that require a lot of energy and we've got to make sure that the energy is put in the right place."

After making only 103 for 9 and then being vanquished in 10.1 overs against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their previous game, Fleming said the team was hurting. It was their fifth defeat on the trot - a first for CSK - following their worst IPL batting performance at Chepauk.

"We've got to look at it in small steps and just continue to work to get better at all three facets really and then you start competing," Fleming said. "I think the disappointing aspect in particular the last game was the lack of competition we put up and that hurt a lot. So there's certainly been a lot of internal soul searching but also a lot of work around what we need to do and it's important that we put a performance out that is representative of the proud franchise that we are.

"There's a lot of hurt that we can turn to motivation but it's not about words, it's about players grabbing the moment, finding form, finding their groove and almost shaking off any apprehension which can creep in."

With 32 sixes in six games this season, CSK are averaging just over five sixes a game. None of their batters have scored more than 150 runs this season and none of them have a strike-rate above 150 either. However, Fleming said strike-rates and lack of sixes weren't as much of an issue, suggesting their batters would be fine using other methods.

"We do [talk about the sixes], but it's not everything," he said. "I know there's a fascination with power and six hitting, but there's also a couple of teams doing well with good craft, and I'd be very sad if the day came to us just being in a baseball competition and talking about sixes and fours.

"The beauty of the game is that there's still balance between bat and ball. Conditions play a big part, but there's still room for craft, and you're still seeing top-class players playing pivotal innings when it's not flat like a road, and I just hope the balance can remain."

Looking ahead to their next game, against LSG on Monday, Fleming said Shivam Dube - who limped off at the end of the first innings against KKR - is expected to be fit. He also picked up on the challenge of facing, in his words, the "best player in the world right now."

"Yes, he [Nicholas Pooran] is very threatening," he said. "He's the best player in the world at the moment by some distance, - consistent, powerful and a real threat. To get him out and keep him in check will be a big part of winning the game tomorrow."

While CSK are last in the points table, with two points after six games, LSG are currently fourth with eight points, having won three games in a row.