IPL 2025: With MS Dhoni back at the helm, CSK seem to be stuck in a time warp

MS Dhoni arrives to bat during an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 T20 cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders, at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, in Chennai. (PTI)

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Chennai: A sapling is being planted for every dot ball bowled in this IPL , and a meme all over the Internet since Friday night is an AI image of a jungle around the MA Chidambaram Stadium!Netizens, of course, are on overdrive because of the poor quality of cricket that Chennai Super Kings , the home team at the MAC, has dished out over the last three weeks. They have lost five of the six games, including three at home. And the worst bit about the defeats is that there hasn’t been any real contest in any of these matches — the lack of intent has made the five-time champions a painful watch.To start off, it’s their ‘new skipper’ MS Dhoni and his approach. Twice in this IPL, he has chosen to come out at No. 9, which included the horrendous show on Friday, when they managed 103-9 against Kolkata Knight Riders. The bowlers were in their rhythm, batters kept coming and going, but Dhoni wouldn’t come out to bat. He is apparently at his best after the 15th over. Not that he set the stage on fire, getting out for 1 to Sunil Narine.Harbhajan Singh, his former India and CSK teammate, said on his YouTube show that Dhoni’s decision to bat at No. 9 was inexplicable.“If he is batting at No. 9, he shouldn’t be playing. He is a better player than that. He has shown he can hit those big sixes, then why bat so low? He is tarnishing his own legacy,” Bhajji, who won the IPL with CSK under Dhoni in 2018, said.The truth of the matter is that Dhoni, who once hit Axar Patel for three sixes in the last over to win Rising Pune Supergiant a game, simply struggles against spin at this stage of his career. If there is no pace off the bowler, he struggles to create his own pace. When it’s fast wrist-spin, the legend doesn’t seem to know which way the ball is turning. There is a reluctance to run the quick singles too, of which he was a master in his heyday. His only chance is against pacers erring in line and length at the deep end.The fact that he is averaging 3 in the games that CSK have won and around 40 when they have lost in the last couple of years shows that MSD is no longer the match-winner that he used to be.CSK, for a decade, set the template for playing T20 cricket for teams across the globe, including national sides. But in recent years, the game has gone in a different direction. Preservation in the middle for an all-assault in the last few overs has become an outdated concept. CSK, though, have been unable to adapt, choosing players from the auction who cannot take on the opposition in the Powerplay.In addition to that, players like Rahul Tripathi, Vijay Shankar, R Ashwin are well past their sell-by date as top players. Still, CSK refuse to throw in youngsters like Shaik Rasheed, Vansh Bedi or Andre Siddarth into the deep end.“We still think we have the right team. Yes, we have some good youngsters, but they should be introduced when they are ready. We don’t want to put out the white flag yet. The youngsters can come in when we don’t have a chance,” batting coach Mike Hussey said.

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