The return of MS Dhoni as captain for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) saw very little joy as the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) chased down 104 in just 10.1 overs to stink up CSK’s home ground for an IPL 2025 match. CSK registered their lowest-ever IPL total at home with a performance of 103/9 in 20 overs.
Dhoni batted at No. 9 and was dismissed for just one run as the CSK batting line-up capitulated. Sunil Narine claimed three wickets, while Varun Chakravarthy and Harshit Rana claimed two apiece from the devastating performance. KKR’s win propelled them to third in the IPL 2025 table, while CSK languishes at ninth.
Sunil Narine
Sunil Narine was the deciding factor of the match. Having taken 3/13, including the wickets of Rahul Tripathi and MS Dhoni, he then smashed 44 runs off 18 balls. Narine’s innings set the stage for an assault on the CSK bowling attack led by Ravichandran Ashwin, with two successive sixes. After opening pair Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra made a start slow enough to earn only 16 runs from the first three overs to begin with, the dismissal of Conway in the fourth over led to a collapse as CSK lost wickets at regular intervals.
Ajinkya Rahane
Ajinkya Rahane‘s strategic captaincy brought much for KKR. Going into bat first actually was a good call; his tactical discussion with Narine led to the breaking of MS Dhoni. Then Rahane became crucial in their chase, joining Narine and giving the CSK bowlers the punishment they deserved.
Shivam Dube
A truly sad batting display from CSK featuring Shivam Dube’s unbeaten 31 off 29 balls was the only bright spot for CSK. Few boundaries played by Dube did get CSK across 100 runs and gave a glimmer of optimism. However, it does indeed look like too little and too late for CSK on that day against KKR.
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