New Delhi: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni expressed his disappointment after Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) defeated them by five wickets at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday. It was notably SRH’s first-ever victory against the five-time champions at Chepauk in the Indian Premier League (IPL), and they put CSK on the brink of the exit door by winning the battle of back-benchers.
CSK endured their seventh loss of the season out of the nine games they have played so far, meanwhile for SRH, it was only their third win of their IPL 2025 campaign. They stay afloat in the race for the playoffs but have almost knocked CSK out of it. Dhoni’s side could only manage 154 before getting folded in 19.5 overs, after SRH invited them to bat.
SRH chased down the target in 18.4 overs, and Dhoni later on admitted that a below-par total of 154 wasn’t “justifiable” on a Chepauk track that didn’t trouble them much. Dhoni said that it becomes quite difficult when a lot of players don’t perform at the same time.
“I think we kept losing wickets and in the first innings, the wicket was slightly better and 154 wasn’t a justifiable score. It wasn’t turning a lot, may be a little two-paced but nothing out of the ordinary,” Dhoni said at the post-match presentation.
The 43-year-old was of the opinion that CSK could extract some benefit out of the pitch which made it a bit difficult for SRH to bat on. “Yes, (in) 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,” he added.
Too many loose ends
Dhoni stressed upon his frustration of CSK dealing with too many loose ends, which, in this case, is their players not hitting the right notes. “In a tournament like this, if there are one or two areas to plug in the holes, it’s good, but when a majority of the players are not doing well, you need to make changes. You can’t just keep going. We are just not putting enough runs on the board,” he bluntly said.
With only five games remaining for both teams, it is just SRH that stands a chance of making it to the safe cut-off mark of 16 points as they currently sit eighth on the points table with six points out of nine games played so far. Meanwhile, an all but out CSK can only hope for a playoff qualification with 14 points, which is the maximum they can get to, considering their rock-bottom points table status with only four points.
MS Dhoni was visibly disappointed after SRH beat CSK by five wickets on Friday to claim their first-ever victory at Chepauk in the IPL. SRH has almost knocked the five-time champions out of the playoff race. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
