IPL 2025: 3 Threats for Chennai Super Kings (CSK)

On Sunday, March 22, the Chennai Super Kings will take on the Mumbai Indians, their longtime rivals, at the Chepauk Stadium in an attempt to win their sixth IPL championship, setting a new record.  

The Chennai Super Kings have added players to their roster for the 2025 IPL season while keeping their main players from the previous season. According to NRR, Royal Challengers Bengaluru eliminated the five-time champions in the league stage of the 2024 Indian Premier League.

In addition to ending CSK's four-year streak of losing the sixth title, the forthcoming season is also likely to be the final one for their legendary skipper, MS Dhoni, who is set to say goodbye to his professional cricketing career.

With this in mind, let’s take a look at the 3 threats to the CSK team that can hamper their fairy tale ending.

Here are the 3 threats for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in IPL 2025:

1. Overdependence on top-order batting

The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batting lineup is full of terrific batters. Captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway, Rahul Tripathi, and Shivam Dube will shoulder the responsibility of scoring the bulk of the runs the team scores. This makes CSK overly dependent on their top-order batting.

The middle and lower order will have the likes of Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni, Deepak Hooda, and Sam Curran, along with Vijay Shankar, to boost the total in final overs. But if the top order fails, there is experience, but not much fire in the lower order to score big.

2. Lack of depth in pace bowling

Chennai Super Kings will depend on their premier spinners Ravi Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Rachin Ravindra, and Noor Ahmad to do the damage on home turf in Chennai. But in away games, their pacers will come to the fore. They have Matheesha Pathirana, Khaleel Ahmed, Sam Curran, Nathan Ellis, Jamie Overton, Gurjapneet Singh, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, and Mukesh Choudhary in the pace department.

However, the lack of depth is clearly visible in the pace unit, as apart from Pathirana, Khaleel, and Curran, the other pacers won't be getting many chances. If there is an injury, there are Indian pacers who are not that experienced in the IPL, while slotting in an overseas pacer will disturb their playing XI.

3. Ruturaj Gaikwad’s inexperience in captaincy

Ruturaj Gaikwad's short experience of captaincy is a worry for CSK, since his leadership seemed to be lacking in expertise at the vital moments last season. At crucial times, it could make it more difficult for the team to make decisions.

Additionally, MS Dhoni's and Ravindra Jadeja's form will be very important. If these experienced stars fail to perform, then this may have a huge impact on CSK's prospects because the squad counts highly on their expertise to accelerate success in IPL 2025.

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