On Friday, April 25, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) suffered their seventh loss in the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) 2025 season. Once more, they were defeated at their stronghold, Chepauk. Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) broke through the citadel this time, using some tenacious cricket to silence the fervent CSK supporters at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
The Sunrisers Hyderabad team successfully pursued 155 runs against them by securing victory with five wickets remaining and eight balls on the clock. Following the heart-breaking loss MS Dhoni acknowledged that Chennai Super Kings fell 15–20 runs short during their first batting inning.
“I think we kept losing wickets and another thing is in the first innings the wicket was slightly better and 157 wasn’t a justifiable score. It wasn’t turning a lot, a little two-paced, but nothing out of the ordinary. Yes, second innings there was a bit of help. Our spinners, the quality was there, and they were bowling in the right areas, but we were 15-20 runs short.”
MS Dhoni
“I think he [Dewald Brevis] batted really well, and we needed that in the middle order. When the spinners come in, you do it either by batsmanship or picking the right areas, but that’s an area where we want to improve because middle overs are crucial.”
MS Dhoni
On Friday, Pat Cummins chose to bowl first after winning the toss. Shaik Rasheed was sent packing by Mohammed Shami’s opening ball of the game. At number three, Sam Curran batted but was ineffective. With just 47 runs scored, CSK lost three wickets as Ayush Mhatre played another fast-paced knock before being removed in the final over of the powerplay.
Dewald Brevis, making his CSK debut, hit a daring knock of 42 off 25 balls, but Ravindra Jadeja ruined a calm start. The cheap dismissal of players like Shivam Dube and MS Dhoni caused the bottom middle-order to struggle. CSK was bowled out for 154 in 19.5 overs after Deepak Hooda made a 21-ball 22.
On a difficult surface, the visitors batted conservatively. Despite losing five wickets, they managed to win by five wickets with eight balls remaining with to the gutsy efforts of Ishan Kishan (44), Kamindu Mendis (32), and Nitish Kumar Reddy (19).
The veteran batsman-wicketkeeper stated that when most of the team’s players are struggling, it is hard to turn things around in a competition like the IPL.
“In a tournament like this, if you have one or two areas where you can plug in the holes it is good, but if the majority of your players are not doing well, it becomes very difficult. Because you have to do a few changes, but if the majority are doing well then you give those guys that extra few games and if it doesn’t work out than you move onto the next one.”
MS Dhoni
“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.”
MS Dhoni
