Another humbling at Chepauk as KKR bundle out MS Dhoni’s CSK for their lowest home total and race home in the run-chase with 59 balls to spare.
At 8:49 pm, as MS Dhoni fell to leave Chennai Super Kings tottering at 75/8 in the 16th over, Chepauk witnessed extraordinary scenes. Across the stadium, some of the CSK faithful began the slow walk towards the exit gate as a deafening silence hung in the air. It has been that sort of season for Chennai Super Kings, where with each outing – be it home or away – they look every bit an outdated outfit that opposition teams can swat aside without breaking a sweat.
After Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Delhi Capitals, it was the turn of Kolkata Knight Riders to inflict another hiding at home as Chennai ended up with 103/9 – their lowest-ever at home – a total that was overhauled with considerable ease with 8 wickets and 59 balls to spare.
Unwatchable T20 side
As each of the Chennai batsmen made their way back, the cameras would pan to head coach Stephen Fleming with dejection written all over his face. For a team that consistently made playoffs till 2019, they have missed the top-four cut in 2020, 2022 and 2024. And by the looks of it, 2025 is heading the same way. When May arrives, there is a chance their campaign will be as good as over.
The question, though, is how did it come to this for CSK? In 2020, their campaign was ruined by a Covid bout. In 2022, the change of guard from Dhoni to Ravindra Jadeja rocked the boat. In 2024, it came down to run-rate. But the struggles this season have come on the back of a mega-auction where they had to assemble a team that could serve them in a three-year cycle. With just one win from six outings, which has also seen them suffer three successive home defeats for the first time, it is safe to say CSK are all at sea. Not even going back to Dhoni to lead the side after the injury to Ruturaj Gaikwad seemed to make a difference.
3-wicket punch 👊
Narine’s mystery spins a web around CSK 🕸️
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 11, 2025
For a team that used to provide entertainment with their brand of cricket, they now appear a team that is stressful to watch even for a faithful fan. CSK have now turned into an unwatchable side by modern T20 standards, as evidenced by a phase in their batting when they went 63 balls, 63 minutes without a boundary.
Parade on
When Ajinkya Rahane won the toss and elected to bowl first, it appeared Kolkata were putting Chennai in their comfort zone. After all, chasing totals has been Chennai’s problematic area. Playing on the same surface that was used for CSK’s opening fixture against Mumbai Indians, KKR exposed all the chinks in their armour. In an era where most teams have turned to openers who give rapid starts, as Dhoni admitted, they have a pair of Kiwis whose strength lies in fetching boundaries. Those are the hardest things to score in T20s, but the problem for Chennai is, they lack power-hitters through their batting. With Gaikwad ruled out of the tournament, they are heavily reliant on Rachin Ravindra and Devon Conway, and that showed in their measured approach at the start. It was yet another outing where CSK didn’t make the most of the first six overs: their run rate of 7.97 is the lowest among all teams in this tournament.
He picks wickets ☝ He takes blinders 👏
🎥 A brilliant catch from Varun Chakaravarthy 💪
Vaibhav Arora too joins the wickets tally 🔥
Updates ▶ https://t.co/gPLIYGiUFV#TATAIPL | #CSKvKKR | @KKRiders | @chakaravarthy29 pic.twitter.com/BIFVCiYo4Z
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 11, 2025
First up, Conway perished in the fourth over to Moeen Ali, the former CSK spinner, who bowled a wicket maiden. In the next over, as a leading edge from Rachin Ravindra settled into the hands of Rahane, Chennai endured another poor start. With a bit of luck, Chennai would survive the powerplay without further damage on a pitch that was offering plenty of help for the spinners.
Muddle in the middle
In the IPL, the bulk of the scoring may be done by the top-order, but it is the middle-order that teams count on to build castles from the platform. In that regard, CSK are short on options. If Rahul Tripathi and Vijay Shankar were supposed to put them back on track, they didn’t succeed. At No 3 and 4, they are batsmen with their own limitations, and here, facing the daunting task of setting up a base for the lower-order to provide some impetus, they never really looked capable of keeping their intent going for a prolonged period. Once they departed in successive overs, the boundaries too disappeared. That Ashwin walked in at No 6 ahead of Jadeja and Dhoni showed how much they lag in terms of resources. CSK only have a perception of depth in batting, as they have batsmen with limited capabilities and range, which means unless the top order brings out their A-game, there is more chance of faltering. CSK faced a total of 61 dot balls in their knock.
Spinners 𝙍𝙞𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 their magic 🎩
Ft. Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy 💜
Updates ▶ https://t.co/gPLIYGimQn#TATAIPL | #CSKvKKR | @KKRiders pic.twitter.com/0pZPBNxS4g
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 11, 2025
And KKR, with their own spin trio of Moeen, Sunil Narine, and Varun Chakaravarthy, strangled CSK, with their seamers complementing to good effect. The three, in their combined quota of 12 overs, gave away only 55 runs while bowling 34 dot deliveries. More than the local boy Varun, it was Narine who made the evening tough for Chennai with his three strikes – Tripathi, Jadeja and Dhoni. With Kolkata picking out one after the other, CSK were forced to bring in Deepak Hooda as Impact Sub in the first innings itself, had he got out for 0 off 4 balls. It all but summed up CSK’s unfolding summer of woes.
Story continues below this ad
Brief scores: CSK 103/9 (Shivam Dube 31, Sunil Narine 3/13) lost to KKR 107/2 in 10.1 overs (Sunil Narine 44, Noor Ahmad 1/8) by 8 wickets.