Following their five-wicket defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 25, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain MS Dhoni expressed his assessment that his team had fallen short of a competitive total by approximately "15-20 runs" after being bowled out for 154. This loss marked CSK's seventh defeat in nine matches in the IPL 2025 season and also represented their first-ever home loss against the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Despite being positioned favorably at 114 for 4 in the 13th over, Chennai Super Kings suffered a massive batting collapse, losing their final six wickets for a mere 40 runs, which ultimately hampered their chances of posting a more challenging target for the visitors.
MS Dhoni rues CSK's defeat against SRH
After losing the match to SRH, MS Dhoni openly admitted that 155 isn't a justifiable score.
"We kept losing wickets, and in the first innings the wicket was slightly better and 155 is not a justifiable score, because it wasn't turning a lot. Yes, after the 8-10th over, it became slightly two-paced when it comes to the fast bowlers, but nothing that was out of the ordinary, I feel we could have put few more runs on the board. Yes, second innings there was a bit of help, our spinners the quality was there and they bowled in the right areas and it was stopping a bit but we were short by 15-20 runs," Dhoni said at the post-match presentation.
Dhoni once again highlighted CSK's middle order woes and said that the batters need to pick up the areas or try to play big shots in their area, which has been lacking throughout the season.
"I think he (Brevis) batted really well and we need something like that in the middle order where we have slightly struggled when the spinners come in, that's a time we need to either you do it by batsmanship, where you pick up your areas or try to play the big shot in your area, I feel that's where we have been lacking and not been really able to dominate or get runs against spinners at good pace in the middle. In a tournament like this, if you have one or two areas where you can plug in the holes it is good, but if majority of your players are not doing well, it becomes very difficult, because you have to do a few changes, but if majority are doing well then you guy those guys that extra few games and if it doesn't work out than you move onto the next one, but if 4 of them are not performing at the same time, you are bound to make that change, because you can't just keep on going because we are not putting enough runs on the board, because it is essential right now, the game has changed. I am not saying it is always 180-200, but assess the conditions and then look to put the runs on the board," Dhoni concluded.
Notably, Chepauk Stadium is no longer a fortress for CSK, given their dismal outing at the venue in the ongoing IPL 2025. The fortress has now been breached on multiple occasions, starting with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), followed by Delhi Capitals (DC), then Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), and most recently, SRH.
CSK will next face Punjab Kings on April 30 at the MA Chidambaram stadium while SRH will take on Gujarat Titans (GT) on April 2 at the Narendra Modi stadium.