IPL 2025: CSK down on confidence; need to risk everything and try to win, says Clarke

At the MA Chidambaram Stadium, despite MS Dhoni’s return to captaincy, CSK were a pale shadow of their dominating self as KKR’s disciplined bowlers restricted them to 103/9 - their lowest IPL total on the home turf. With defending champions KKR eventually winning by eight wickets, CSK suffered their biggest defeat in the IPL in terms of balls remaining (59) and are still rooted to ninth place in the points table.

“Wicket looked quite tough to bat on. There was a little bit of movement with the new ball and certainly some spin. I think Chennai Super Kings got their plan wrong. The way they went about it - it's clear they’re down on confidence. And their intent - well, there was no intent.”

“At the moment, it seems like a very conservative approach - just trying to get close to winning or avoid a big defeat. Instead, they should throw it all on the line, risk everything, and try to win the game.”

“That kind of change is easier said than done. Just like a good, confident feeling can become infectious in a winning dressing room, the same applies when you’re losing. That losing feeling lingers, and it’s hard to get rid of sometimes,” said Clarke on JioStar.

Piyush Chawla, the veteran India leg-spinner who had a stint with CSK in IPL 2020, has suggested the side needs a minor shake-up - by backing young, uncapped and hungry players in their ranks.

“At this stage, I think Chennai Super Kings should consider bringing in youngsters. Someone like Andre Siddarth, who is a solid middle-order batter, deserves a chance. You’ve already seen enough of Rahul Tripathi and Deepak Hooda.”

“So why not give these young players an opportunity to show what they’re capable of? A new face might come in, get some quick runs, and boost confidence - not just for themselves but for the whole team. Not saying they should make wholesale changes—but maybe one or two tweaks to freshen things up.”

Chawla, who represented KKR from 2014 to 2019, further praised Sunil Narine for picking figures of 3-13 in his four overs, a spell where he didn’t concede a single boundary on a helpful black soil pitch.

“It’s been so many years, and yet batters still struggle to read Sunil Narine. These kinds of surfaces really suit his bowling because he’s never too full, never too short. The pace he bowls at is perfect - it doesn’t give batters much time. We saw that in Rahul Tripathi’s dismissal, and even Ravindra Jadeja was late while trying to play the late cut.”

“We’ve seen Narine get Mahendra Singh Dhoni out in a similar fashion before. While we said it’s a good wicket to bowl on, you still need to bowl well - and that’s exactly what Sunil did and he deserves a lot of credit,” he concluded.