Chennai, April 26 (H.S.): Chennai Super Kings (CSK) faced another crushing defeat in IPL 2025. After losing to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 5 wickets on Friday, captain MS Dhoni admitted that his team was at least 15-20 runs short.

With this defeat, CSK has lost 7 of their 9 matches and remains at the bottom of the points table.

After the match, Dhoni said, I think we lost wickets consistently. The pitch was slightly better in the first innings, and 154 runs was not a justified score. The pitch did slow down a bit after the eighth or ninth over, but that wasn’t unusual. If we had been better with our running, we could have added a few more runs.

He also mentioned that the bowlers tried, especially the spinners bowled well, but the score was low.

Dhoni pointed out a significant weakness in the team, stating, We are struggling to score runs against spin in the middle overs. We need to either be clever in extracting runs or go for bigger shots. That is where we are missing out. These overs are crucial where we could score 5-10 runs more.

While the team’s middle order struggled, 21-year-old Dewald Brevis impressed when he got the opportunity for the first time. He scored 42 runs in just 25 balls, hitting four sixes. Dhoni praised him, saying, Brevis batted wonderfully. We needed an innings like that in the middle order.

This was the first time SRH defeated CSK at Chepauk. This season, CSK has lost four out of five home matches. The next match is on April 30 against Punjab Kings at Chepauk.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar