IPL 2025: Batting woes haunt Ruturaj Gaikwad-led Chennai Super Kings; here’s the solutions CSK need

MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja’s big hits made it a close defeat, but Chennai Super Kings didn’t lose their match against Rajasthan Royals at the death. They lost it much before that, when they ended the powerplay at 42 for 1. You’re not going to win too many IPL games if you can’t score more than 50 runs in the powerplay. It’s early days still, but CSK have played three matches in IPL 2025 and their powerplay run-rate is 7.44, the lowest among all ten teams. Nobody else is below 8, and six teams are above 10.

Stephen Fleming – ‘Just see at the end’

Coach Stephen Fleming reacted sharply to a question about the team’s somewhat dated approach after their defeat at home against RCB. “We have firepower all the way through,” Fleming said. “Just because we don’t swing from ball one and have a little bit of luck go our way… we’ll see at the end. Just see at the end who wins it.”

After the six-run loss to Rajasthan Royals though, Fleming conceded the two teams’ powerplays were key differentiators. The Rajasthan Royals raced to 79/1 in their first six overs, nearly double of what CSK got.

CSK’s batting set-up

Their main top-order options are Rachin Ravindra, Rahul Tripathi, captain Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway. All accomplished, but none who is a slam-bang dasher. Tripathi, who so far has only one IPL season where he has struck at over 150, has been entrusted with the job of going hard at the top of the order. Without a blitz at the top, their natural method is to set a platform and explode later.

Shivam Dube is key to that explosive power in the middle. Since IPL 2023, CSK have used Dube very specifically: he walks in when the first wicket falls after the powerplay. He doesn’t have a fixed batting position, he has a fixed entry point. With Dube’s capacity to destroy spin bowling, having him in the middle overs is a sound ploy. But he hasn’t yet got going this IPL, and there has been nobody to pick up that baton.

The home non-advantage

In years past, CSK’s method worked very well because the pitches at Chepauk were slow turners that suited their tactics. However, in IPL 2024, the pitches became flatter. And in IPL 2025, Fleming has admitted that CSK haven’t been able to read their home pitches well, and that their home advantage has all but disappeared.

“There was no home advantage at Chepauk. We’ve won away from home a couple of times, and we haven’t been able to read the wickets here for the last couple of years,” Fleming said after the RCB loss. “It’s not the Chepauk where you can just go and play four spinners. We’re having to work really hard to try and understand what the nature of each pitch is, and it’s quite different.”

With their spin attack, CSK would have banked on winning the majority of their home games alongwith a couple of wins on the road – enough to make the playoffs. Without that home cushion, the task is suddenly a lot tougher.

The Dhoni question

There was plenty of debate around Dhoni’s batting position when he batted at No.9 against RCB. Against RR, he came out at No.7 and for a brief while threatened to pull off one of his famous heists. That led to the question of whether Dhoni’s undoubted power could be used earlier.

Fleming explained that Dhoni’s workload had to be carefully managed. “His knees aren’t what they used to be,” Fleming said. “He’s moving okay, but he can’t bat 10 overs running full stretch. He will gauge on the day what he can give us. If the game’s in the balance like today, he’ll go a little bit earlier. And he backs other players when other opportunities are up. He’s too valuable to us, leadership and wicketkeeping, to throw him in at 9-10 overs.”

So CSK have their constraints when it comes to Dhoni the batter. They have a home pitch that’s not been behaving as it used to. And they have a lot of players searching for form. They’ve come back from much worse in the past, and now they’ll need to do it again if they want Fleming’s assertions of “just see at the end who wins it” to come true.

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