Chennai Super Kings suffered their fourth straight defeat at home, losing to Sunrisers Hyderabad by five wickets in IPL 2025 and MS Dhoni was disappointed with the team.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni was a disappointed man after Chennai Super Kings (CSK) faced their fourth consecutive defeat at Chepauk, losing to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by five wickets in the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday.
It was SRH’s first-ever victory against CSK at this iconic venue. With this defeat, CSK almost bowed out of the race for the playoffs, while SRH kept their chances alive, at least mathematically.
Sent into bat first, Chennai Super Kings struggled and were bowled out for 154 runs. In response, Sunrisers Hyderabad chased down the target comfortably in 18.4 overs, with Ishan Kishan (44), Kamindu Mendis (32 not out), and Nitish Kumar Reddy (19 not out) playing crucial knocks.
Earlier, apart from Dewald Brevis, who top-scored with a 25-ball 42, and Ayush Mhatre, who made 30 off 19 deliveries, the CSK batting lineup failed to build momentum in the must-win contest.
For SRH, Harshal Patel starred with the ball, returning excellent figures of 4/28 in his four overs. Skipper Pat Cummins also impressed, picking up 2/21 to tighten the grip on CSK’s innings.
Reflecting on the defeat, MS Dhoni said, “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.”
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Speaking about Brevis’ performance, Dhoni added, “I think he 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.”
Dhoni further pointed out that multiple CSK players underperforming simultaneously has hurt the team badly. He said, “In a tournament like this, if you have one or two areas where you can plug in the holes it is good, but if majority of your players are not doing well, it becomes very difficult. Because you have to do a few changes, but if 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 stated.
“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,” MSD signed off.
With the playoffs slipping away, Chennai Super Kings now face an uphill battle to stay in contention, while Sunrisers Hyderabad will hope to build on this win in their remaining matches.
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