MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings is competing against Ajinkya Rahane's Kolkata Knight Riders in match 25 of the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, which is being played at the iconic MA Chidambaram Stadium, also known as the Chepauk, on April 11 (Friday). Dhoni is making his return as the CSK captain and would like to secure a win to put an end to their four-match losing streak. On the other hand, KKR suffered a close 4-run loss in their previous clash against LSG and would be eyeing to make a comeback here.
KKR won the toss and elected to bowl first. Rahane announced that Moeen Ali will be replacing Spencer Johnson in the line-up. As for CSK, Rahul Tripathi will be replacing injured Ruturaj Gaikwad and Anshul Kamboj comes in for Mukesh Chaudhary.
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Captains at Toss
"We'll bowl first. There were a lot of positives from the last game. We as a team played really well. It is about improving each game. This looks like a good wicket, won't change much. We are batting deep, so that's why we look to bowl first and chase things down. One change - Moeen Ali comes in for Spencer," said Ajinkya Rahane after winning the toss.
"We were looking to bat first as well. Quite a few occasions where we tried to chase it down and what we realised is that the wicket slows down a bit, so if you don't get a good start then the middle order comes under pressure. He has fractured something on his elbow, so he is ruled out of the tournament. It is important, we have lost too many matches and now it is important to do the basics right - have dot balls, take our catches," said MS Dhoni.
"A couple of games we lost by big margins, but otherwise it was about the small things - about one over going for 20 runs. Our batters are more authentic as batters, they won't slog everything. They just need to back their instincts. It is important to start well, get boundaries early on and try to get a couple of early wickets as well. Couple of changes for us - Tripathi comes in for Ruturaj, and Anshul Kambhoj in for Mukesh," he added.
CSK vs KKR Playing XIs
Chennai Super Kings: Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway, Rahul Tripathi, Vijay Shankar, Shivam Dube, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Khaleel Ahmed
Kolkata Knight Riders: Quinton de Kock(w), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Moeen Ali, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy