The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) ended their 5-match losing streak in the IPL 2025 with a perfect win over the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Monday, April 14, in Lucknow. CSK hadn’t won a game since their victory over MI in their first match of the tournament.
They lost 5 consecutive matches in the tournament before they met LSG. MS Dhoni won the toss and decided that CSK will bowl first. Rishabh Pant burst into form, scoring 63 runs (4 fours and four sixes), while Mitchell Marsh (30), Ayush Badoni, and Abdul Samad helped LSG reach 166/7 after 20 overs. CSK's Ravindra Jadeja and Matheesha Pathirana both took two wickets.
CSK responded well, scoring 52 runs, thanks to a partnership between Rachin Ravindra (27) and Shaikh Rasheed (37). However, the middle order faltered, with Ravi Bishnoi accounting for Rahul Tripathi and Ravindra Jadeja's single-digit scores.
However, Shivam Dube, who scored 43* in 37 balls with three fours and three sixes, shared 57 unbroken runs for the sixth wicket with MS Dhoni to help CSK advance. The experienced CSK captain scored 26* with four fours and one six as the team triumphed by five wickets in the final over. MS Dhoni was also named Player of the Match.
Suryakumar Yadav, India's T20I captain and Mumbai Indians top hitter, posted a touching message on Instagram to celebrate CSK's victory. Surya posted a photo of Dhoni and Dube on his account, accompanied with a sentence from the popular Bollywood film MS Dhoni - The Untold story.
"Mahi bhai- Strike dega toh tum bana lega? Dube - Try kar lenge. Mahi bhai - Try karna hai toh hum hi kar lete hai. Tum bas runout mat karwa dena. (Dhoni - Will win the match if I give you the strike? Dube, I will try. Dhoni - I can also try then. You just don't get me run out)," read the caption.
The movie, which released in 2016, was directed by Neeraj Pandey and was a biopic of MS Dhoni. The movie starred late actor Sushant Singh Rajput as the title character.
"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," said Dhoni during the post-match presentation.
