Ravi Shastri asked MS Dhoni about the tough night after Chennai Super Kings lost to Kolkata Knight Riders in a pretty one-sided IPL 2025 match in Chennai. Dhoni, looking disappointed, replied, ‘It has been quite a few nights that have not gone our way.’ That pretty much summed up CSK’s season so far, marking their fifth straight loss, which hasn’t happened before in IPL history. They’ve also lost three home games in a row at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
When Dhoni came back as captain after Ruturaj Gaikwad got injured for the season, there were high hopes. Unfortunately, things didn’t turn around, and they faced one of their worst defeats in IPL history. CSK only managed 103 runs for 9 in their 20 overs, while KKR chased it down easily with 59 balls and eight wickets still in hand.
Once again, CSK’s shaky batting lineup was exposed. Without Gaikwad, Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra couldn’t find their rhythm in the powerplay, scoring just 18 runs in the first five overs and ending the sixth at 31 – their second lowest powerplay score this season. Dhoni acknowledged the challenge during the presentation, saying, ‘I felt we didn’t have enough runs. When you lose too many wickets, there’s pressure. We never formed any partnerships. With a bit more application, we would be fine.’
While Conway and Rachin struggled again, Rahul Tripathi, stepping in for Gaikwad, had a tough outing with just 16 runs off 22 balls. At one point, CSK was 79 for 9, close to their lowest total ever, but Shivam Dube saved them from that with 31 runs off 29 balls to get past 100.
It’s clear CSK’s struggles in the powerplay are a big issue – they’ve had the lowest strike rate among all teams in IPL 2025 and have only gone over 50 runs in the powerplay twice in six matches. Despite the backlash, Dhoni defended the team’s strategy, emphasizing they lack power-hitters. He insisted that they need to stick to their strengths and build partnerships for later on.
‘It’s important to read the conditions,’ he said. ‘We need to get partnerships going and capitalize later. If we aim for 60 runs in the powerplay, it will be really tough for us. Our openers play proper cricket shots. We shouldn’t panic just looking at the score.’
The stark difference with KKR was evident: CSK didn’t hit a single six in the powerplay, while KKR hit seven. With five losses in six matches, Chennai Super Kings are currently sitting in ninth place on the 10-team points table in IPL 2025.