Dhoni’s cryptic remark creates furore after loss to Mumbai at the Wankhede has more or less shut the door on their playoff hopes.
Dhoni’s cryptic remark post the defeat to Mumbai Indians has left a lot of them bewildered.
Although they still aim to go to the IPL 2025 knockout stages, MS Dhoni stated that they will use their final six games to determine their strongest squad for the next season if things don’t work out. With four points from eight games, CSK is now at the bottom of the standings after losing to the Mumbai Indians (MI) by nine wickets at the Wankhede.
With only a slim margin for error, they will now need to rely on other outcomes to go their way in order to qualify, since they are six points behind the fourth-place team.
“With all the games in front of us that we are supposed to win, we will just take it one game at a time,” Dhoni said after the match about their mindset for the rest of the campaign. “And if we lose a few, what will be important for us to get the right combination for next year.
“We don’t want too many players getting changed,” he said. “So, I think what will be important is to try and qualify. But if not, get a secured eleven for the next year and come back strong.”
Dhoni emphasised that hitters must score the runs that enable their bowlers to successfully defend, even though CSK’s head coach Stephen Fleming had expressed similar ideas the night before the match against MI.
“What we need to realise is that we are successful if we play good cricket. At the same time, if we’re not playing good cricket, what is important is not to get too emotional about it,” Dhoni said. “But at the same time, you want to be practical. So, there have been instances, one of the seasons, I think 2020, which was not great for us.
“But we need to see whether we are playing the right form of cricket. Whether we are applying ourselves, trying to put the amount of runs on the board that’s what is needed for the bowlers to save. So, those are the question marks that we have got.
“A few catches, that will help. But other than that, we are just trying to plug in the holes.”