Chennai Super Kings Coaches: complete list and insights
Chennai Super Kings is an Indian Premier League franchise representing the city of Chennai. CSK head coach is Stephen Fleming. Created in 2008, CSK conducts its home matches at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, which is also known as Chepauk Stadium, located in Chennai. That said, in IPL 2021, all matches are played at non-native venues, no team will be playing at their home stadium. All teams in the league stage will play at four of the six arenas. Whilst in 2020, in view of the grave situation with the pandemic, all Championship was hold in the UAE with no audience present in the stadiums.
It was the worst season for the CSK. The franchise had to settle for seventh position after the big hectic ride. This is a serious setback for a team that has made it to the playoffs every time. The team, however, is looking confidently to the future. The middle order looks more powerful than ever this time around.
The Super Kings is perhaps the most coherent team in IPL history. Led by the most effective captain in all of Indian cricket history, the CSK is widely known as a franchise that persists in keeping its team core unchanged. We have observed over the years how the trio of MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina have been rescuing the team from hopeless situations. Likewise, this year we will see the trio on the field together.
Many world-class players have played a major role in elevating the franchise to tremendous heights. In doing so, we often undeservedly forget to celebrate the efforts of the coaching staff as a part of the team’s success. They make assured that the athletes stay in the best possible form and play at the highest level. The CSK coaching staff is nevertheless often praised for pulling the best out of their players.
Head CSK coach Stephen Fleming
A former New Zealand top order batsman, Stephen Fleming, is an acting the Super Kings’ head coach in the IPL. He also played for the CSK in the first season of the IPL. The following season, he assumed coaching position. Ever since then, Fleming has been the franchise’s chief coach.
Chennai is three-time winners of the IPL trophy under Fleming’s coaching tenure with franchise in 2010, 2011 and 2018. Moreover, they have also won the Twenty20 Champions League in 2010 and 2014. Unfortunately, in July 2015 Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals were barred for two years from the cricket league for their involvement in the gambling affairs of their head managers Raj Kundra and Gurunath Meiyappan in the season of 2013. The Chennai Super Kings and the Rajasthan Royals were both found guilty of illegal betting and match-fixing activities. The two officials have been banned for life from being associated with any cricket matches organized by the BCCI. During CSK’s suspension, Fleming was engaged as a coach of the Rising Pune Supergiant. The fans in the year 2018 saw the triumphant return of the Super Kings, with Fleming resuming his role as head coach.
CSK coach 2020: Batting Coach, Bowling Coach, Fielding coach
Michael Hussey, who established himself as an opener in the T20 format, then played a key role with Chennai Super Kings, securing a pair of IPL and Champions League titles in 2010, followed by another trophy win in IPL in 2011. Thus, being the Orange Cap IPL winner Michael Hussey is a CSK coach in batting for the Chennai Super Kings since 2018. Similar to Stephen Fleming, Hussey played in the IPL for CSK prior to assuming a position at the coaching panel. Hussey also played for the Mumbai Indians in the league. Hussey has also had short-term engagements as a batting consultant for the South African and Australian teams.
CSK 2021 Bowling Coach, as he was one of CSK coaches 2020, is Lakshmipathy Balaji. He became the first bowler to take a hat-trick in the IPL. He was a member of the team in 2010 to win the IPL tournament. As Hussey, Balaji became a part of the CSK’s coaching panel in 2018. Prior to this he also trained the Kolkata Knight Riders. While the head CSK coach Flemming was absent at the last IPL auction, Balaji did participate in it and made some beneficial to the franchise purchases, like Cheteshwar Puraja, who played brilliantly in the last match with Australia.
Rajiv Kumar, former Bihar captain and offspinner, also was recruited by the Super Kings in 2018. The triumphant 2018 evidences the excellent panel of the coaches, as we see. Kumar concurrently works as the head coach of Jharkhand cricket team. Should be mentioned, that they are old friends and colleagues with the CSK’s captain Dhoni, thus making the training process flow even smoother.
CSK other support staff
There are many more brilliant personalities among the coaching and support staff of the CSK:
- R Russell is CSK Team Manager;
- Gregory King – Physical Trainer;
- Lakshmi Narayanan – Performance Analyst;
- Eric Simons – Bowling Consultant;
- Narasimhan V. – Throwdown specialist;
- Tommy Simsek – Physiotherapist;
- Dr. Madhu Thottappillil – Team Doctor;
- Khalil Khan – Team Masseur;
- Sanjay Natarajan – Logistics Manager!
The Chennai Super Kings is one of the strongest teams in League. And, definitely, not the least of the merits belongs to its star coaches and support staff. In this season the team is looks forward to turn things around as compared to the failure in 2020. Hussey ensures the fans that they “have very balanced squad with most bases covered”, as all the coach squad looks optimistic for the CSK’s upcoming encounters.
