IPL 2022: CSK were not good enough to win close games, says coach Stephen Fleming

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) found it challenging to match their "catastrophic success" in IPL 2022 where the defending champions were not "good enough" to win tight games, feels head coach Stephen Fleming. One of the most successful sides in the IPL, the four-times champions ended their campaign at the penultimate spot, managing just four wins in 14 games. "There was mixed success. We sort of stuttered our way through. We had a number of games that were close, but we were not good enough to get across the line.

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Four-time champions CSK finished the season in ninth place, having suffered 10 defeats while managing to win only four times over the last couple of months, the last being a five-wicket defeat to Rajasthan Royals on Friday.

"That's the normal story of the season we don't qualify," Fleming said after CSK's five-wicket loss to Rajasthan Royals on Friday. The New Zealander added that the team, comprising several new players, found it challenging to play the same way as previous seasons. "When you start a new cycle and have a number of new players and a new dynamic in the team it can be testing. "We suffered from catastrophic success so just trying to play the same way, continue from our last four years, which were very successful, is a real challenge. "Dropping back and understanding what the new players can do, it can take a little bit of time."

Fleming, however, feels the underwhelming season will be a catalyst for the players for the next edition of the league. "We didn't have a couple of form players that could get us through those early days, get the win and the momentum going. "We had opportunity to do better than we did but the