Stephen Fleming steps down as CSK head coach after 18 years
Chennai Super Kings and Stephen Fleming have parted ways after an 18-year association, ending one of the most successful captain-coach eras in franchise cricket.
Jul 14, 2026
The longest partnership in the IPL has run its course. Chennai Super Kings confirmed on Monday that Stephen Fleming has stepped down as head coach, ending an 18-year association that began when he first walked into Chepauk as a player in the tournament’s opening season.
The franchise framed it as a mutual decision, reached after what it described as open and honest conversations. Fleming leaves behind a body of work that turned CSK into the IPL’s benchmark for stability, and he leaves it after two seasons that fell a long way short of that standard.
Eighteen years, five titles
Fleming joined CSK in the inaugural 2008 season as a player before taking charge as head coach from 2009. Alongside MS Dhoni, he built a captain-coach axis with no real parallel in franchise cricket. CSK won five IPL titles under him, in 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2023, and added two Champions League T20 trophies in 2010 and 2014.
The consistency was the real signature. CSK reached the playoffs a record 12 times and played in 10 finals, numbers no other franchise has matched. Not even the two-year suspension across 2016 and 2017 broke the rhythm. The side returned and won the title in 2018.
Two lean years forced the question
The end followed a sharp downturn. CSK finished fifth in 2024, bottom of the table in 2025, and could climb no higher than the lower reaches in 2026, missing the playoffs in three straight seasons for the first time in Fleming’s tenure. An ageing core, a top order that never settled, and the constant uncertainty over Dhoni’s playing future all fed into campaigns that came apart early.
A clean break across the Super Kings network
Fleming’s exit goes beyond the IPL side. He has also stepped away from his head coach roles at Joburg Super Kings in SA20 and Texas Super Kings in Major League Cricket, both part of the wider Super Kings group. It leaves him fully clear of a coaching setup he has sat at the centre of for the better part of two decades.
No successor yet
CSK have not named a replacement and are understood to have opened their search ahead of IPL 2027. Indian media reports have linked the role to former India batter Hemang Badani and floated bigger names such as Rahul Dravid, while Dhoni’s own future as a player continues to hang over everything at Chepauk. So far the franchise has confirmed only the departure, not who fills the seat next.