Last Updated on 4 months by Charbel Coorey

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are set to finish bottom of the IPL table for the first time in their history. Their six-wicket defeat to Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Tuesday has left them needing a miracle to avoid finishing tenth as they need to thrash high-flying Gujarat Titans (GT) on Sunday in Ahmedabad.

Stephen Fleming did not mince words following CSK’s latest defeat. The coach said it is “probably fitting” they are bottom of the league.

“No, we don’t obviously like being down here, but it’s not a motivation. We wanted just a good performance. We’re trying to string some performances together. The aim was two good performances (in last two matches),” he said as quoted by Hindustan Times.

“Now it’ll be one good one to finish. It’s probably fitting that we’re at the bottom. We’ve played that type of cricket, so you can’t hide away from it.”

Stephen Fleming highlights key problem areas as CSK set to finish bottom of the IPL table

CSK’s top order struggled badly early in the season, which eventually left the franchise with way too much to do to in the back half of IPL 2025. The likes of Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway and Rahul Tripathi found the going difficult, and they were further hampered by Shivam Dube’s struggles against spin given he was pinpointed as a key player.

Fleming spoke about CSK’s inability to put good innings together. 17-year-old Ayush Mhatre and injury replacement Dewald Brevis were comfortably the bright spots in the CSK batting lineup, which speaks volumes about their season.

“Our order is not right at this stage, and that is something that we are always looking to rejig,” Fleming said. “We’ve got some strong ideas for next year, so all those facets are covered. But that hasn’t been possible this year because of the lack of runs at the top.

“A lot of the batting positions are determined by how well a start we have, and then guys can fall into line. We haven’t had that. So we’ve been just patching innings up, really, rather than constructing good innings.”

It would take something truly remarkable for CSK not to finish bottom of the table. With their current net run rate of -1.030, they will need to beat GT by 109 runs if they score 200 batting first. If GT bat first and score 150, CSK will need to chase this in 13.1 overs or less to overtake RR’s net run rate of -0.549.