The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) faced their sixth loss in eight matches of IPL 2025 on Sunday, going down by nine wickets against the Mumbai Indians (MI). This defeat leaves CSK at the bottom of the points table, with their chances of making the playoffs looking slim. Both their batting and bowling have struggled to perform consistently, which led CSK legend Suresh Raina to express his concerns about the team’s strategy after the IPL auction.
Raina pointed out on Star Sports, I feel that CSK’s auction wasn’t good. There were so many talented young players available. Where are they? CSK went into the IPL 2025 auction with a budget of Rs 55 crore, spending Rs 10 crore on Noor Ahmad and Rs 9.75 crore on R Ashwin as their top buys. Raina criticized the team for passing on players like Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant, saying, You took so much money to the auction but let go of Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, and KL Rahul. I’ve never seen CSK struggle like this.
Former CSK player Harbhajan Singh agreed with Raina and raised concerns about the team’s talent scouts. He noted, The younger players don’t seem capable of game-changing innings. Those responsible for scouting talent need to be asked about the information they provided for selecting these players.
While Noor has shown promise with 12 wickets in eight matches, other big signings have underperformed. Ashwin has been in and out of the lineup due to inconsistent form, and players like Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway, Jamie Overton, Vijay Shankar, and Rahul Tripathi haven’t made much of an impact. Even star retention like Ravindra Jadeja, who earns Rs 18 crore, hasn’t delivered the expected results.