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MS Dhoni has become the latest IPL captain to have expressed desire for a preparing pitch...
Read More Chennai Super Kings are halfway through their league stage campaign of IPL 2025, but they are struggling at the bottom of the standings. Of their seven matches thus far, the five-time champions have won just two and lost five. Three of these defeats have come in four matches at home and captain MS Dhoni feels that it was to do with the Chepauk pitch not being batting friendly.
In the four matches CSK have played at home so far, they average 141 runs per innings while it improves to 181 in three away games. In their last game at Chepauk, CSK slumped to a historic low when they managed a mere 103/9 against Kolkata Knight Riders which is the lowest they have scored at home. On Tuesday, CSK registered their second win of the season as they chased down 167 against Lucknow Super Giants for a five-wicket win.
Dhoni felt that while CSK have not been able to contain opponent batters in the Powerplay overs, their batting unit isn’t being able to deliver good starts either. “If you see the powerplay, whether it’s the combination or the conditions, we were slightly struggling in the first six (overs) when it comes to bowling," Dhoni said. “And then we always used to come back in the middle overs and more often than not in the death (overs).
There have been instances where the opposition got off to a very good start, but we were able to restrict them to what could be a par score or just above it. But we aren’t getting the start that we want as a batting unit." Dhoni said the reason CSK batters have struggled at home is because of the Chennai pitch being on the “slower side" and wants more batting friendly surfaces.
“We keep losing wickets at the wrong time to some extent. One of the reasons could be that the Chennai wicket is slightly on the slower side. Out of the first 5-6 games we have played, we’ve played more games over there.
When we play outside, the start as a batting unit slightly better. Maybe we need to play on wickets that are slightly better, and it’ll give the batters confidence to play their shots," Dhoni said. “You don’t want to play timid cricket.
But at the same time, you want to figure out what is your release shot, and you want to back yourself to play that shot. Don’t pick an option that is not good for that wicket. It’s important to express," he added.
Dhoni acknowledged that it has been a tough season for CSK so far but felt the win over LSG will help in boosting the team’s confidence. “It’s good to win a game. When you play a tournament like this, you want to win games.
Unfortunately, the [earlier] matches didn’t go our way for whatever reasons. There can be lots of reasons. It’s good to have a win on our side.
Gives confidence to the whole team and helps us improve in areas we want to improve. We all knew that when it doesn’t come your way in cricket, God makes it very tough, and it was a tough game. Glad to be won the winning side and hopefully it will give us some momentum," he said.
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