The IPL 2025’s 43rd game between the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) was played in Chennai on Friday, April 25. SRH captain Pat Cummins won the toss and chose to bowl first.
Ayush Mhatre (30), Ravindra Jadeja (21), Dewald Brevis (42), and Deepak Hooda (22) were the main scorers as CSK made 154 runs in 19.5 overs.
For SRH, Harshal Patel took 4/28, while Pat Cummins and Jaydev Unadkat took 2 wickets each.
In reply, SRH lost Abhishek Sharma for a duck, Travis Head for 19, and Heinrich Klaasen for 7 runs. But Ishan Kishan stemmed the fall of wickets with 44 in 34 balls. However, it was left to Kamindu Mendis, who made 32*, and Nitish Reddy (19*) to take SRH to the finishing line.
SRH won the match by 5 wickets, and this was their first-ever win over CSK in Chennai.
With this win, SRH moved to the 8th spot in the IPL 2025 points table with 6 wins from 9 games, while CSK remain at the 10th spot with 2 wins from 9 games in the tournament.
CSK captain MS Dhoni admitted that the franchise didn’t bat well despite the pitch being conducive to batting in the first half.
“We kept losing wickets, and in the first innings the wicket was slightly better, and 155 is not a justifiable score, because it wasn't turning a lot. Yes, after the 8th-10th over, it became slightly two-paced when it came to the fast bowlers, but nothing that was out of the ordinary. I feel we could have put a few more runs on the board. Yes, in the second innings, there was a bit of help; our spinners, the quality was there, and they bowled in the right areas, and it was stopping a bit, but we were short by 15-20 runs,” MS Dhoni told official broadcasters after the match.
He praised Dewald Brevis for the way he batted but lamented the fact that the CSK top and middle order are not firing at all.
“I think he (Brevis) batted well, and we need something like that in the middle order, where we have slightly struggled when the spinners come in. That's a time we need to either do it by batsmanship, where you pick up your areas, or try to play the big shot in your area. I feel that's where we have been lacking and not been really able to dominate or get runs against spinners at a good pace in the middle,” Dhoni stated.
“In a tournament like this, if you have one or two areas where you can plug in the holes, it is good, but if the majority of your players are not doing well, it becomes very difficult because you have to do a few changes, but if the majority are doing well, then you give those guys that extra few games, and if it doesn't work out, then you move onto the next one, but if 4 of them are not performing at the same time, you are bound to make that change because you can't just keep on going because we are not putting enough runs on the board, because it is essential right now; the game has changed. I am not saying it is always 180-200, but assess the conditions and then look to put the runs on the board,” Dhoni signed off.
CSK will now face PBKS, also in Chennai on April 30, while SRH will take on Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad on May 2.
