‘If majority of your players are not doing well, then it becomes difficult’ - Dejected MS Dhoni analyses CSK’s lacklustre performances following SRH loss

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) registered their seventh defeat in the 2025 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Friday, April 25. They were outplayed at their fortress - Chepauk - yet again. This time, the fortress was breached by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), who managed to silence the passionate CSK fans at the MA Chidambaram Stadium with some dogged cricket.

SRH chased down a 155-run target with five wickets and eight balls to spare. After the gut-wrenching defeat, MS Dhoni admitted that CSK were 15–20 runs short with the bat in the first innings.

“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 said after the loss.

“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," he added.

Pat Cummins won the toss on Friday and he decided to bowl first. Mohammed Shami struck with the first ball of the match, as he sent Shaik Rasheed packing. Sam Curran batted at No. 3 but failed to make an impact. Ayush Mhatre played another quick-fire knock before being dismissed in the last over of powerplay, as CSK lost three wickets with only 47 on the board.

Ravindra Jadeja wasted a sedate start but Dewald Brevis, making his CSK debut, played a swashbuckling knock of 42 off 25 balls. The lower middle-order faltered as the likes of Shivam Dube and MS Dhoni were dismissed cheaply. Deepak Hooda contributed with a 21-ball 22 before CSK were bowled out for 154 in 19.5 overs.

The visitors batted with a conservative approach on a tricky surface. They lost five wickets, but Ishan Kishan (44), Kamindu Mendis (32*), and Nitish Kumar Reddy (19*) played gritty knocks to orchestrate a five-wicket win with eight balls to spare.

The senior wicketkeeper-batter said that in a tournament like the IPL, it is difficult to fix things when a majority of the players in the team are not doing well.

"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," the CSK skipper added further.

"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," he concluded.