Bengaluru, May 2 (PTI) For long, Chepauk has been Chennai Super Kings' impregnable fortress. But in this IPL, all they have managed at the MA Chidambaram Stadium is a solitary win in six outings which played a massive role in the five-time champions getting knocked out of the play-offs race.

The primary reason for CSK's stuttering at home has been their inability to find an alternative plan once the pitch there stopped giving copious assistance to the spinners as it used to in the past.

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Mike Hussey, the CSK batting coach, accepted that blip.

"In the past the pitch has turned a lot more (at MAC). It's surprising, isn't it, to lose so many games at home. I think other teams are getting better at playing at Chepauk. We have based our game around spin in the past (in Chepauk)," said Hussey in a pre-match press meet here on Friday.

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He was echoing head coach Stephen Fleming's sentiments as the Kiwi had earlier said that CSK were not able to read the Chennai pitches correctly during the last two seasons.

Even then, CSK had won five matches at Chepauk in 2024 when they finished with a total seven victories.

However, Hussey was quick to acknowledge that Chennai's poor season has more to do with the mere ineffectiveness at home strip.

"But I don't think it necessarily comes down to just Chepauk. I think it's just the way we've played in general. We've made too many mistakes with bat and ball and in the field for that matter.

"So, it doesn't matter if we're playing at Chepauk or away, I still think the results probably would have gone that way," he said.

A quick peek at the CSK batting chart will validate Hussey's statement. Shivam Dube is their best batter with 248 runs from 10 matches, but the left-hander is not even in the top 20 run-getters in the stat chart.

Left-arm wrist spinner Noor Ahmad and left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed are in the top 10 wicket-takers' list, but there is hardly any backing for them particularly from spinners.

The much-touted combo of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have under-performed, taking just 5 and 7 wickets respectively.

In fact, Ashwin has not featured in the CSK line-up in the last three matches at home or away.

The CSK put all their eggs in one basket trusting Ashwin and Jadeja to make a bigger impact but the calculation went awfully wrong, and needed a relative rookie like Ahmad to shore up their bowling.

However, Hussey said they have not really made a conscious effort to prepare the pitch to suit their strategies despite struggles at home.

"The groundsmen are employed to produce good pitches. I never like it when teams try to get an advantage by producing a pitch that helps them too much or can affect a game.

"I don't think we've certainly tried to tell the groundsmen what sort of pitch we want or need," he added.

Irrespective of that, Hussey admitted that losing at home was painful.

"It's something that hurts us because we love playing in front of our home fans and they turn up in great numbers and support us every time. So, it has been disappointing certainly to lose games at home," said Hussey.

So, is there a talk in the CSK dressing room on how to approach the next season?

"There'll be a lot of planning and preparation around tidying up those areas that we probably haven't quite nailed this year and making sure we're very specific in how we come out next year," said Hussey.

The faithful Yellow Army would wait for that after CSK missed a playoff berth for the second successive season.

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