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Chennai Super Kings (CSK) were humbled by Mumbai Indians (MI) at Wankhede Stadium on April 20. Rohit Sharma returned to form and Suryakumar Yadav went berserk as MI chased down a below par target of 177 with nine wickets in hand and 26 balls to spare. As CSK suffered their sixth win from eight games and slipped to the bottom of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 points table, former India opener Kris Srikkanth concluded that MS Dhoni-led side's season is over.
"So this season is pretty much over for CSK! Well played MI it was treat to watch Rohit and Surya sending balls to every part of the ground! Only advice left for CSK to go out and express themselves in the rest of the games! Like I predicted its @mipaltan Cup to loose [lose],” Srikkanth wrote on X (formerly know as Twitter).
Earlier, skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and opted to bowl first. 17-year-old debutant Ayush Mhatre impressed with a 15-ball 32 cameo. Fifties from Ravindra Jadeja and Shivam Dube helped CSK post 176/5 as Dhoni fell to Jasprit Bumrah in the slog overs. After the first innings, Srikkanth had said that CSK are 20 runs short of an ideal score.
"Feel csk is about 20 runs short! Feel they were to cautious initially , amazing bowling by @Jaspritbumrah93 that was some terrific bowling! Will be great to see if Dhoni can create some magical situations for csk as currently it looks like an easy MI win!" the 1983 World Cup-winning member wrote.
Dhoni already looking at right combination for IPL 2026?
Skipper Dhoni felt that the target set by CSK was not enough. He opened up about the team's dull season and compared it with IPL 2020 when CSK finished seventh on the points table with eight losses from 14 games. He wants the team's fielding to improve and has already started looking ahead to the next edition.
"What we need to realise is that we are successful because we play good cricket and at the same time when we are not playing good cricket what is important is not to get too emotional about it and at the same time you want to be practical. There have been instances, one of the seasons I think 2020 has not been great for us but we need to see whether we are playing the right form of cricket, whether we are applying ourselves. Those are the question marks we have got, few catches and that will help," Dhoni said.
"Other than that we are just trying to plug in the holes, with all the games that are in front of us that we are supposed to win, we just take it one game at a time and if we lose a few, what will be important for us is to get the right combination for next year. You don't want too many players getting changed, what will be important is to try and qualify, but if not get a secured 11 for next year and come back strong," he added.
Meanwhile, CSK are still alive in the tournament if they win their remaining matches. Their next clash is against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at home on April 25.
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