Five-time IPL winners Chennai Super Kings (CSK) failed to make the Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs for a third successive season. Ruturaj Gaikwad and his side finished eighth in the table after finishing bottom in 2025.

Such bad results have led former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar to sack former New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming as the coach.

The 53-year-old has been with the franchise since 2009 as its coach after having participated in the opening season as a player. Speaking to SportStar’s insight edge program, the 60-year-old said, “Chennai has to change things around, and the side has been having bad performances for the past few years. People can see that things have changed over at that team (CSK), and it is not like fans are shocked that they aren’t making it to the playoffs.”

Manjrekar also said, “Sanju Samson, who has already led in the IPL, should be made the captain, and Ruturaj should be set free to play as a batter. Don’t know what contributions Stephen Fleming is making; his dynamic with MS Dhoni was different, with the skipper taking all the decisions. Believe the time for change has come for Chennai, and they need to shake things up.”

After the CSK vs SRH game in Chepauk, the former Kiwi star was asked about his future, to which he said that the management will decide.

Under his coaching, the Men in Yellow went on to win the league title five times and also won two Champions League titles. Their last IPL title came in 2023 under the captaincy of MS Dhoni when they beat the Gujarat Titans in the finals.

Ex-India batter unhappy with MS Dhoni saga

In the same SportStar’s insight edge podcast, the veteran commentator expressed his unhappiness with the constant saga around India’s former skipper.

The 44-year-old missed his first season of the IPL due to various injuries. There were hopes that MSD would feature during the season, but that didn’t happen.

Speaking about this, the former Mumbai batter said, “I don’t like the current version of MS. He was a player that made me rave about him. People have to move and cannot just hold onto memories and glories just like the Mumbai Indians are doing, where certain players way past their prime are still given important positions, and Chennai are doing the same with Dhoni.”