‘CSK… I do not like your Playing XI one bit…’: Chennai’s ‘problem’ called out after back-to-back losses in IPL 2025
Chennai Super Kings faced harsh criticism after they lost their second consecutive match on Sunday in the ongoing IPL season. The five-time champions crumbled under pressure while chasing a 183-run target in Guwahati. The lack of firepower in the batting line-up was exposed in CSK’s last two matches, where they had to chase 180-run-plus targets. With two defeats in three matches, Chennai are placed at the seventh spot on the points table after match 11 of IPL 2025.
The loss at home against Royal Challengers Bengaluru forced the CSK think tank to make a couple of changes for their Rajasthan Royals clash, as Sam Curran and Deepak Hooda missed out. However, the players who replaced them, Jamie Overton and Vijay Shankar, failed to make an impact.
Former India opener Aakash Chopra was critical of CSK’s playing XI and asserted that they have still not addressed the problems in the line-up as the batting once again let them down in Guwahati on Sunday.
“CSK, I do not like your playing XI one bit. You are making changes, but change is not necessarily progress. You dropped Sam Curran and played Jamie Overton, but you got Overton to bowl only two overs. The truth is that you need to address the problem in your batting. It is not getting addressed. It once again came to the fore,” Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
Meanwhile, Chennai tweaked their batting line-up against the Royals and promoted MS Dhoni to number 7 but the talismanic batter failed to take his team over the line. He could manage just 16 runs off 11 balls and was dismissed on the first ball of the last over, as they suffered a six-run loss to Rajasthan Royals.
“Why are you playing Overton?”
Overton, who came in place of Curran, got to bowl just two overs in which he leaked 30 runs and scored an unbeaten 11 runs off 4 balls. The other change from the last match – Shankar managed to get just 9 in the 183-run chase.
Chopra was not impressed with Overton’s performance with the ball as he leaked too many runs in the powerplay which allowed RR to gain upper hand.
“Noor Ahmad was amongst the wickets again. (Matheesha) Pathirana was outstanding. Khaleel (Ahmed) was very, very good, but Overton conceded 30 runs in his two overs. Why are you playing Overton? You shouldn’t play him,” Chopra added.
