MS Dhoni has made his return as the Chennai Super Kings captain as the five-time champions go one-on-one against the 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). He would be eyeing to secure a win here to put an end to their four-match losing streak.
MS Dhoni's message ahead of KKR clash
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. MS Dhoni said they lost way too many matches, and every game is crucial here. He also praised Ruturaj Gaikwad and that it is not easy to play without a talent like him.
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"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