‘Silly’: CSK coach Stephen Fleming loses cool, lashes out at reporter | Cricket News

Stephen Fleming (Image credit: BCCI/IPL)

NEW DELHI: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) head coach Stephen Fleming was visibly frustrated with a journalist during the post-match press conference following his team’s loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Friday. The former New Zealand captain reacted strongly when the journalist compared CSK’s style of play to other teams, dismissing the question as “silly.”
The match marked CSK’s first defeat of the season, with RCB securing their first victory at Chepauk since 2008, winning by 50 runs.
Tensions flared in the press conference when Fleming confronted the journalist over the criticism of CSK’s approach.
Here’s how the exchange unfolded:
Reporter: “In the first game, you chased 156 in almost 20 overs. Today, you scored 146. I know this is your way of playing cricket, but do you think it’s kind of getting outdated?”
Fleming: “What do you mean by my way of playing? You talk about firepower. We have got firepower all the way through. I don’t understand this question. Just because we don’t swing from ball No.1 and have some luck go our way, just see at the end, who wins it. It is a positive brand of cricket. Don’t discount us.”
Reporter: “I am not discounting you.”
Fleming: “You sort of are. Silly question.”
Addressing the notion of “home advantage,” Fleming argued that Chepauk no longer provides CSK with a clear edge, as the team has struggled to read the pitch consistently.

“Well, as we’ve been telling you for a number of years, there was no home advantage at Chepauk. We’ve won away from home a couple of times. And we haven’t been able to read… we’ve been really honest with you,” Fleming said in the post-match press conference.
“We haven’t been able to read the wickets here in the last couple of years. So, it’s not new. We are trying to come to grips each day with what we get, and we don’t know. It’s not the Chepauk [of old] where you can just go in and play four spinners. We’re having to work really hard to try and understand what the nature of each pitch is, and it’s quite different,” he added.