Mullanpur (Punjab) [India]: Following a stronger batting performance against Punjab Kings on Tuesday night, Chennai Super Kings fell to their fourth straight loss in the current Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, but head coach Stephen Fleming was critical of his team’s fielding effort and optimistic.

The Super Kings were fluffing up match-defining chances while tilting at windmills on the field. Priyansh Arya broke free from his bonds and hammered a century off of 39 balls as part of CSK’s heartbreaking tale of missed opportunities.

In the 12th over, while Arya was batting aggressively at 73, Mukesh Choudhary hit it hard to long-off off Ravichandran Ashwin, while Khaleel Ahmed was caught and bowled in the opening over with a score of six.

For CSK, the tale of lost opportunities didn’t stop there. When Ravindra lost a sitter off Noor Ahmad at deep midwicket in the 17th over, Shashank Singh, who was going about his business with his customary explosive methods, won a second lifeline, and the five-time champions paid a heavy price.

“In the field, the game was really lost. I believed that we sometimes lacked precision under pressure and were careless in the field. Arya’s excellent innings put pressure on us, but we need to be more effective than that in stopping it. So that’s where we lost the game,” Fleming said during the news conference after the game.

“We can look at three sixes here and there because we’re 18 runs short in a huge run chase. Thus far, the season has been difficult. Not only has the catching been bad, but tonight both teams did a bad job. I don’t know whether there was anything in the light, but it was definitely a worry for us,” he said.

In an attempt to reach Punjab’s intimidating 220-run mark, CSK’s opening combination successfully ended the powerplay for the first time in their five games. Rachin Ravindra and Devon Conway, two southpaws from New Zealand, were hammering Punjab’s bowling unit and amassed 61 runs in 6.3 overs.

Chennai faltered in the middle overs after a good powerplay after losing captain Ruturaj Gaikwad (1) and Rachin (36) at a low cost. Conway was replaced by Ravindra Jadeja as the asking rate skyrocketed to 17 in the last four overs.

CSK was 18 runs shy of victory as MS Dhoni hit a blistering 27 from 12 deliveries, including three soaring maximums, but grounded it to Yuzvendra Chahal on the first delivery of the final over.

“We batted a little better, which is a plus. We were able to build the pursuit after receiving some substance from the top order, which was a little sparse. The run rate was just too high at the end, and we couldn’t maintain it at a decent level in the middle. However, we have a lot more experience, which is a plus,” he said.