MS Dhoni Scores 17-Ball 16 Against RR, Then Defends Approach Saying…

It was the same old story for the Chennai Super Kings as they squared off against the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 on Tuesday. The batting unit performed in patches while the top order failed to make the most of the powerplay once again. Young guns like Dewald Brevis and Ayush Mhatre produced fine cameos while seniors like Ravindra Jadeja and Devon Conway failed to fire. As the batting unit looked up to the legendary MS Dhoni, even the 42-year-old crumbled under pressure, scoring just 16 runs from 17 balls.

Over the course of his stay in the middle, Dhoni hit just one six before being dismissed. As a result, CSK could only take up their total to 187/8. After the game, Dhoni admitted that the lower-middle order was put under a lot of pressure because of the rapid fall of wickets, hence justifying the manner of his batting.

“If you look at the amount of runs we had put on the board, it was very good, but you got to see the wickets column as it puts pressure on the lower-middle order that you might not bat 20 overs. I think Brevis’ innings was very nice, he was taking chances, and I feel the run-rate was nice, that’s the phase we want to improve slightly. I felt the run-rate was u,p but where we lacked was losing 1-2 extra wickets,” Dhoni said in the post-match presentation ceremony.

With CSK all but set to finish at the foot of the 10-team points table, Dhoni has urged his batters to show more consistency. The franchise has set its sights on the young guns to take charge and become the driving force next season.

“I think you need to look for consistency, which is hard to get when you are looking for a 200 strike-rate. The batters need to back themselves. What is important is to be the same way as your first season for all young batters. You need to get more consistent that’s going to help you to develop as a batsman going forward,” Dhoni said.