Key Points

Chennai Super Kings suffered a massive nine-wicket defeat against Mumbai Indians in a critical IPL match. Captain MS Dhoni candidly acknowledged his team's strategic shortcomings, particularly in batting approach and fielding. The match saw young talent Ayush Mhatre making an impressive debut, scoring a quick 32 runs. Dhoni's post-match analysis emphasized the need for tactical improvements and maintaining a balanced perspective during challenging tournament phases.

Key Points: Dhoni Admits CSK Batting Mistake in MI Nine-Wicket IPL Rout

  • - CSK scored 176/4 with Dube and Jadeja's half-centuries
2 min read

IPL 2025: We should have started slog early, says Dhoni after 9-wicket loss to MI

MS Dhoni reflects on CSK's strategic errors after Mumbai Indians' dominant victory, highlighting early slogging and fielding challenges.

"We were quite below par. Knew dew would come in the second half. - MS Dhoni"

Mumbai, April 21

Claiming that his team was quite below par, Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni on Sunday said his batters should have got into slogging the ball early, as their rivals Mumbai Indians had started their death-bowling early in Match 38 in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 that they lost by nine wickets.

After losing an early wicket, CSK rode on a sensational 15-ball 32 by 17-year-old Ayush Mhatre and half-centuries by Shivam Dube (50) and Ravindra Jadeja (53 not out) to score 176/4 in 20 overs after being asked to bat first at the Wankhede Stadium.

Mumbai Indians aced the chase as Rohit Sharma smacked 76 off 45 balls (4x4, 6x6) and Suryakumar Yadav blasted 68 off 30 (6x4, 5x6) to help them reach 177/1 in 15.4 overs and win with 26 balls remaining.

Dhoni said they did not get a good enough score, considering batting was going to be easy in the second innings because of the dew.

"We were quite below par. Knew dew would come in the second half. (Jasprit) Bumrah is one of the best death bowlers in the world, MI started their death bowling early, we should have started our slog early. We should have capitalised and got those runs," said Dhoni in the post-match presentation.

"The odd ball was gripping. They played spin well. We never had a par score. If you give away too many in the first six. It wasn't like it was coming on nicely," said Dhoni.

The former India captain praised the 17-year-old debutant Ayush Mhatre for his courageous batting as he scored a 15-ball 32 that set the platform for Dube and Ravindra Jadeja to exploit.

"[Mhatre] Batted well; he picked his shots well. Wanted to play his shots, we also haven't seen him much," he said.

He again flagged the Chennai Super Kings' fielding and said his players need not get too emotional about the string of defeats.

"We need to realise, we are successful because we play good cricket. But we need not get too emotional. We need to see if we are playing the right form of cricket, trying to put in the right amount of runs.

"A few more catches will help; we are trying to plug the holes. Take one game at a time. Look at the combinations for the next season, if we don't qualify," the legendary captain said.

- IANS

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Reader Comments

R
Rahul K.
Tough loss for CSK but that 17-year-old Mhatre was a revelation! Future star in the making 🔥 Hope they give him more chances this season.
P
Priya S.
MI's batting was just unstoppable today! Rohit and SKY made it look so easy. CSK's bowling really needs to step up in the powerplay overs.
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Arjun M.
Respectfully disagree with Dhoni's assessment here. The bigger issue was the bowling attack - 177 in 15.4 overs is unacceptable. Fielding has been poor all season too.
S
Sneha R.
That Ayush kid played without fear! Love seeing young talent shine in IPL 💛 Also Jadeja's consistency is just amazing - the only CSK player performing every match.
V
Vikram J.
CSK missing that finisher's touch this season. Last year we would've chased this down easily. Hope they bounce back in the next game 🤞

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