“Need To Play On Wickets That…”: MS Dhoni Subtly Demands Better Pitch At Chepauk

Cric News India IPL News 2025

April 15, 2025 0 19

MS Dhoni Brings Chepauk pitch under scanner

Chennai Super Kings remained at the bottom of the IPL 2025 table after winning just two of their first seven matches and MS Dhoni demanded for better pitch at Chepauk.

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have found themselves in unfamiliar territory midway through their league-stage campaign in IPL 2025. With just two wins from seven matches, the five-time champions are currently struggling at the bottom of the points table.

Out of their seven fixtures so far, CSK have suffered five defeats—three of which came in four home matches at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Captain MS Dhoni believes the nature of the Chepauk pitch has played a big role in their struggles, calling it less favourable for batting.

In the four home games, CSK have averaged just 141 runs per innings, a figure that rises significantly to 181 in their three away games. Their most disappointing performance came in the last match at Chepauk, where they registered their lowest-ever home score of 103/9 against Kolkata Knight Riders.

However, CSK brought some relief to their campaign on Tuesday when they secured their second win of the season. Chasing 167 against Lucknow Super Giants, the side clinched a five-wicket victory.

Dhoni addressed the team’s inconsistent performance, highlighting issues in both bowling and batting during the Powerplay overs. “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. 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.”

The CSK skipper pointed out the home surface in Chennai as a major factor behind the team’s batting struggles. “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.

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“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.

Despite the rocky start, Dhoni hopes the recent win will lift the team’s morale and turn things around as the tournament progresses. “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 on the winning side and hopefully it will give us some momentum,” he said.