Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain Ms Dona admitted that his team were 15-20 runs short as the five-time champions stumbled to another loss in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season. The Pat Cummins-led SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) defeated CSK by five wickets as they chased down 155 with eight balls to spare at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday.
This was CSK’s seventh defeat in the ongoing IPL 2025 season and the franchise are languishing at the bottom of the points table with just 4 points from 9 matches.
Asked to bat first, CSK could not bat out the full quota of 20 overs as they were bundled out for 154. Dewald Brevis was the top-scorer as he played a knock of 42 runs off 25 balls.
“We kept losing wickets, and another thing is I felt, in the first innings, the wicket was slightly better, and 155 is not a justifiable score because it wasn’t turning a lot. After the 8th, 9th, 10th overs, it became slightly two-paced for the fast bowlers, but nothing was out of the ordinary,” said Dhoni after the match.
“We could have run slightly better and put a few more runs on the board. Yes, second innings there was a bit of help. Our spinners have the quality, they got a bit of bounce, It was stopping a bit, but yeah, we were short by 15-20 runs. That’s one area where we want to improve because middle-overs are very crucial. You have to get those extra 5, 10 or 15 runs, especially if you get off to a good start,” he added.
MS Dhoni was full of praise for Dewald Brevis, who played his first game for CSK against SunRisers Hyderabad. Earlier, Brevis was named the replacement for the injured pacer Gurjapneet Singh.
“I think he batted really well, and we need something like that in the middle order where we have slightly struggled is, when the spinners come in, that’s the time we need to either, you do it by maintaining our shape or pick out your scoring areas to play the big shots. I feel that’s where we have been lacking. We have not been able to dominate or get runs against the spinners at a good pace in the middle,” said Dhoni.
‘If four of your guys aren’t performing’
Dhoni also had a no-holds-barred assessment of his playing XI, saying it becomes hard for any franchise when four leading players are not performing as expected. He said one can make up for one or two holes, but if the majority of players are struggling, then it becomes really difficult.
“In a tournament like this, if you have one or two areas where you can plug in the holes, it’s good. But, if the majority of your players are not doing well, whether it’s batting or bowling, it becomes challenging because you have to make a few changes. But if the majority of them are doing well, you give that guy that extra few games and if it doesn’t work out, then you move on to the next one,” said Dhoni.
“But if four of them are not performing at the same time, you’re bound to make that change because you can’t just keep on going because you’re not putting enough runs on the board. And that’s essential right now,” he added.
CSK will next take on Punjab Kings on Wednesday, April 30, at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
