Fleming was hopeful that the work they put behind in recent weeks would reflect in the middle. (File)Having finished at the bottom of the table last season, and the team hampered by injuries to key players, Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming has called on his team to start on a strong note. CSK, the five-time champions, start their new IPL season in Guwahati with the likes of MS Dhoni, Dewald Brevis ruled out with an injury.Having pressed for plenty of changes to the squad from last season, which has seen the arrival of Sanju Samson and a couple of fresh faces in Kartik Sharma and Prashant Veer, CSK have an uphill task at their hand. The franchise was amongst the first to start their preparations early in the first week of March. And Fleming was hopeful that the work they put behind in recent weeks would reflect in the middle.“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.Also Read | IPL 2026: MS Dhoni’s injury comes as blessing in disguise for Chennai Super Kings, as they go for modern T20 approach, starting with game vs Rajasthan RoyalsLast season, CSK’s batting was out of depth for most periods as other franchises out-batted them. Having relied on experienced players, their strategy seemed flawed and after the season they pressed for a reboot, going in search of batsmen who provide intent from the word go. Even if it meant that they had to rope in inexperienced players, CSK took the bold step and Fleming said he is excited to see how it pans out.“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,” Fleming said about the arrival of Kartik Sharma and Prashant Veer into the franchise.Having not been in a favour of the Impact Player rule in the past, Fleming said the presence of the 12th player, suits the demands of the modern day batsmen. “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,” Fleming said.“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 added.Story continues below this adSpeaking of the last season where they finished bottom of the table for the first time in IPL, Fleming said there were lessons to be learned and the arrival of Sanju Samson sets the tone. “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 said.Stay updated with the latest sports news across Cricket, Football, Chess, and more. Catch all the action with real-time live cricket score updates and in-depth coverage of ongoing matches.© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd