At that stage, CSK needed 98 to win from 43 deliveries.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) decided to push down MS Dhoni till the 9th slot during their ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) match against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). The decision to wait out the former CSK skipper for that long, especially when the team was struggling in the chase, raised eyebrows.
When Shivam Dube departed on the penultimate ball of the 13th over, much to everyone’s surprise, Ravichandran Ashwin walked out to bat ahead of Dhoni and joined Jadeja in the middle. At that stage, CSK needed 98 to win from 43 deliveries.
It can be interpreted as a tactical move by CSK in an attempt to take the game as deep as possible before Dhoni came out and fired. Dhoni, since the last season, had limited himself to batting at the death due to his knee issues, and that’s what CSK thought of doing this time around as well.
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Speaking about the match, RCB dominated most of the proceedings of the game and have almost closed out the contest.
Batting first, RCB posted a pretty competitive total of 196 for 7 in 20 overs on the Chepauk pitch, courtesy of a flamboyant fifty from skipper Rajat Patidar after a fiery start by Phil Salt. Tim David then put on the finishing touches with some gigantic hits, scoring a quickfire eight-ball 22.
Coming to CSK’s chase, they were dealt an early blow reeling at 26 for 3 in 4.4 overs, from which they could never recuperate. In the end, there was too much left.
At the time of writing this report, the CSK scoreboard read 107 for seven in 17 overs. Dhoni and Jadeja are currently batting in the middle.
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