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Former India cricketer Robin Uthappa questioned the Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) performance against the Punjab Kings as the franchise faced its fourth consecutive defeat in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. CSK have played five matches in IPL 2025 so far where they managed to win just one match against arch-rivals Mumbai Indians (MI).
Uthappa reckons that CSK's reason behind their downfall is their middle order. Despite a strong start, they failed to maintain momentum and lost control of the game. Uthappa believes CSK failed to get some big overs after the powerplay to keep the pressure on the opposition.
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Speaking on Jio Hotstar Match Centre Live, he criticized the lack of intent in the middle overs, which ultimately resulted in a challenging target of 42 runs in the final two overs.
"They started well, scoring almost 9.8 or 9.9 runs per over, which is as good as you can expect with the kind of openers they have. But you can't let the game slip in the middle overs, especially when chasing a big total. Approach in the overs from 7 to 12 were very quiet. You need big overs right after the power play to keep the pressure on the opposition. Winning the powerplay is one thing, but owning the middle overs is what wins you games, and they failed to do that, again. In the last two overs, they needed 42 runs, which is just too many. Had they managed a couple of 15 to 20 run overs in the middle, that equation could have come down to needing just 22 to 25 runs at the end. The intent just wasn't there." Jio Star expert Robin Uthappa said while speaking on Match Centre Live on JioHotstar.
After losing against PBKS, CSK are currently on ninth in the points table tally. The Ruturaj Gaikwad-led franchise will now face Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on April 11 at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
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