Following a last-place finish in the 2025 IPL season due to injuries and poor form, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) head coach Stephen Fleming is hoping for a strong start to the new 2026 campaign.

The five-time champions face early setbacks with key players like MS Dhoni and Dewald Brevis injured for their opening fixture against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Guwahati on Monday (March 30).

“Brevis is out. He had a side injury during training. So again, he is rehabbing,” Fleming said in his pre-match press conference.

The franchise has undergone a significant overhaul, adding Sanju Samson and young talents Prashant Veer and Kartik Sharma (acquired for INR 14.2 crore each) to fix last year’s debacle.

Fleming expects the new young roster to bring high intensity and fearlessness to the batting lineup.

“You always look a little bit at the points table. But it’s a long tournament. So it’s always nice to start well. You do a lot of preparation. And the first game really is the barometer of where you’re at. So the first game is always important. You want to get away to a good start. So that’s really what the focus has been on. Once you start the tournament, it becomes a little bit more about recovery and the work in between. But up until now, the full preparation has been how you start the tournament, which is where we sit now,” Fleming said, as quoted by The Indian Express.

“We’ve got some youngsters who are very exciting, so I don’t think strike rate is going to be a problem. But it has to be high. I think the indication last night is that the tournament, if the conditions are right, is going to be difficult for bowlers. So you have to be able to have a very positive approach with the batting, which I think we can do. I think it’s the quality of the young player that’s coming through. Before, it used to be a young player with a bit of experience, but what you’re seeing is the emergence of young players that have been brought up in white ball cricket and T20 cricket, and they just have no fear,” he added.

Despite being a previous critic of the Impact Player rule, Fleming acknowledged that the presence of a 12th player suits the aggressive demands of contemporary T20 batting.

“The thing is the rules in IPL are different to every other competition in terms of the impact player, so you can play a bit more freely and without fear. That suits certainly the young, modern-day player,” the CSK coach stated.

“We were caught. We’ve had a lot of success with experienced players, and they’re experienced players that have been brought up playing longer form of the game, so technique’s very good, ability to work through situations. But the game now has almost gone away from that, and it’s really just about fours and sixes, which in some ways is a bit of a shame, but you have to move with the times. A balance between bat and ball was always ideal, but we’ve certainly moved into that space, and I’m really excited about some of the youth that we will put on show,” he remarked.

Reflecting on the 2025 last-place finish, Fleming said there were lessons to be learned and highlighted a major shift in the team's philosophy, headlined by the blockbuster acquisition of Samson.

“Last season was difficult for us. But I think halfway through, we made some changes. We had a number of injuries which didn’t help the campaign, but we turned them into a positive one. And I think now we’re a really well-balanced squad. We spend a lot of money on Indian talent, a lot of money on youth. So there’s an excitement and enthusiasm around the squad. There’s a little bit of a deviation from what we’ve done in the past, but there’s now still a nice mix of experience. Obviously, the addition of Sanju Samson as well at the top is world class. So we enter this season in a pretty good space,” Fleming remarked.