Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain MS Dhoni admitted his team was well shot of the par score, following their defeat to Mumbai Indians (MI) in IPL 2025 on Sunday. CSK could only manage 176/5 despite attacking half-centuries from Shivam Dube, who made 50, and Ravindra Jadeja, who hit an unbeaten 53. In reply, Rohit Sharma scored his first half-century of the season, which was worthy of a Man of the Match, and put on an unbeaten 114 for the second wicket with Suryakumar Yadav, who smashed 68 off 30 balls.
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After the match, Dhoni said 176 on a track where dew would also play a part was never going to be easy to defend.
"I think we were quite below par, because we all knew that dew will come in the second half and we were in a position to exploit the middle overs, and I just felt that Bumrah being one of the best death bowlers in the world right now, I felt once they started their death bowling early, that was the time we should have capitalized and started our slog slightly early and after that even if Bumrah also goes for runs it's a plus point, I think there were a few overs there we could have got slightly more runs. We needed those runs because 175 with the dew around is not a par score," Dhoni said during the post-match presentation.
Dhoni also credited Suryakumar for the way he batted against the CSK spinners, adding that the dew factor made things even more difficult for his bowlers.
"I think the odd ball was still gripping and for us what was most important was the first 6 overs, and if you give away too many in the first 6 it becomes slightly easy and Surya is a brilliant player of spin bowling and with the dew it was doing slightly less, but it wasn't like it was coming on nicely. What we need to realize is that we are successful because we play good cricket and at the same time when we are not playing good cricket what is important is not to get too emotional about it and at the same time you want to be practical. There have been instances, one of the seasons I think 2020 has not been great for us but we need to see whether we are playing the right form of cricket, whether we are applying ourselves," he added.
At the end, Dhoni also dropped a big hint over CSK's next year plans, saying though the team would want to qualify for the playoffs this campaign as well, if not, the target is the start preparing plans for next year.
"Those are the question marks we have got, few catches and that will help. Other than that we are just trying to plug in the holes, with all the games that are in front of us that we are supposed to win, we just take it one game at a time and if we lose a few, what will be important for us is to get the right combination for next year. You don't want too many players getting changed, what will be important is to try and qualify, but if not get a secured 11 for next year and come back strong," he concluded.
The defeat saw CSK remain rock bottom while MI rose to the sixth spot, having registered their third straight win.