
IPL 2025: CSK’s Middle-Order Woes Deepen Amid Disappointing Season
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Mumbai: Season after season, the slow MA Chidambaram Stadium pitches provided an ideal way for Chennai Super Kings to gain momentum in their IPL campaigns. The sluggish, turning surfaces at Chepauk have significantly contributed to leaving opposing teams anxious even before the opening ball was bowled.
For the five-time champions, accumulating the majority of points at home was the formula for success. The statistics reveal everything – a total of 51 victories in 76 matches held at Chepauk. Even in the previous season, CSK maintained a strong home record, winning five out of their seven games, despite narrowly missing the playoffs by finishing fifth in the points table.
This season, however, is a dismal one for CSK. The way they have faltered from game to game – CSK is at the bottom of the table with only two wins from nine games and seems likely to end up well below the playoff positions – appears to be less about salvaging this season and more about planning a makeover of the once-dominant team.
On Friday, Sunrisers Hyderabad, who have also faced difficulties this season, became the latest team to breach CSK’s stronghold, handing them their fourth home defeat in five games.
MS Dhoni criticized the middle-order after they were bowled out for 154, ultimately losing by five wickets. CSK were at 114/4 in the 13th over but lost the last six wickets for just 40 runs. Dewald Brevis at No. 5 scored a rapid 25-ball 42. “He batted really well and we need something like that in the middle order,” Dhoni remarked at the presentation.
“Where we have slightly struggled is when the spinners come in (mid-innings), that’s when we need to either do it by batsmanship – pick your scoring areas – or attempt to play the big shot once the ball is in your area. That’s where we have been lacking. We have not managed to dominate or score runs against the spinners at a good pace in the middle… the middle overs are crucial – you have to secure those extra 5 to 15 runs, especially if you get off to a solid start. ”
CSK attributed their home dominance to batters like Suresh Raina and Ambati Rayudu excelling in the middle overs when the visiting teams struggled to adjust. Raina and Rayudu would wait for the right moment to attack and find boundaries. In the last two seasons, Ajinkya Rahane performed well for them, but they were unable to discover appropriate replacements in the most recent auction.
CSK are so lacking in options this season that Sam Curran batted at No. 3 and Ravindra Jadeja at No. 4 against SRH. Dhoni would recall that in their comeback season in 2018, CSK defeated a strong SRH side four times consecutively, including the final. In their opening game, while chasing to surpass 178/6, Raina at No. 3 and Rayudu at No. 4 guided the team home with seven wickets in hand, scoring 54 off 43 balls and an unbeaten 79 off 37 balls, respectively. In 176 matches for CSK, Raina scored 4,687 runs at an average of 32. 32 (S/R 136. 93), while Rayudu compiled 1,932 runs (over 90 matches, Avg 29. 72, S/R 129. 32).
Of his 193 innings, Jadeja has mainly batted at Nos. 5, 6, or 7. He has only batted at No. 3 three times and at No. 4 just 13 times. England all-rounder Curran has primarily batted at No. 5 and 6. He was batting at No. 3 for the first occasion. CSK’s difficulties have increased because those whom they relied upon in the middle order – Deepak Hooda (29 runs in 4 matches) and Rahul Tripathi (55 runs in 5 matches) – haven’t succeeded and Shivam Dube (242 at 34. 57), feeling the heat, hasn’t scored at his typical 150-plus strike rate to create an impact.
CSK head coach Stephen Fleming mentioned that the selections in the November IPL auction were not ideal. “It’s tough to say we’ve got everything completely right. We’ve been examining our performance and style of play thoroughly, and how the game is progressing. It’s not simple, and that’s why we’re proud of our history and that we’ve managed to be consistent for such a long time. It doesn’t require much for it to shift another way. Other teams have improved, but we just haven’t nailed it, so you assume responsibility from the top down. That (auction) needs to be an area where we should reflect and acknowledge it wasn’t as good as it could have been, but it’s also not a perfect science,” he stated at the post-match media conference.
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