In the match against LSG, MS Dhoni played a crucial inning of 26 runs in 11 balls.
With a 5-wicket win against Lucknow Super Giants, Chennai Super Kings finally ended their losing streak. CSK had earlier reached here after losing 5 consecutive matches. Chennai had to win this match at any cost to stay in the race for the IPL 2025 playoffs. In such a situation, captain MS Dhoni led the team from the front. He himself gave the finishing touch to CSK’s run chase. Dhoni played an unbeaten innings of 26 runs off 11 balls. Dhoni told after the match why Chennai Super Kings had to face continuous defeat in the last few matches. Let us tell you that Lucknow had set a target of 167 runs for Chennai to win, which CSK achieved with 3 balls to spare. Dhoni scored 26 runs off 11 balls and for this he got the Player of the Match award.
You can’t win matches by playing timid cricket – MS Dhoni
MS Dhoni said after the match, “If you look at the powerplay, whether it was the combination or the situation, we were struggling with the ball. And then we as a batting unit could not get the start that we wanted. Also the fall of wickets. We keep losing wickets at the wrong time to some extent.
One of the reasons for this could be that the Chennai wicket is a bit slow. When we have played away from home, the batting unit has performed a bit better. Maybe we need to play on wickets that are a bit better so that the batsmen get the confidence to play their shots. You don’t want to play timid cricket.”
MS Dhoni’s big statement on excluding Ashwin from the playing XI
He further said, “We were putting too much pressure on Ash (Ashwin). He was bowling two overs in the first six overs. We made changes and it looks like a better attack. As a bowling unit, we have done well. As a batting unit, we can do better.
Roles and responsibilities – that’s what we talk about. If you start well, and you are a player who can play till the end of the innings, then why not. I think he (Sheikh Rashid) batted really well today. He has been with us for quite a few years. This year he has been batting really well against both fast bowlers and spinners in the nets. This is just the beginning.”
