MS Dhoni believes Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) selection changes have made their bowling attack easier to manoeuvre. After the five-wicket win against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). The win helped them snap a five-match losing streak in IPL 2025, but they are still at the bottom of the points table.
CSK's turnaround started by leaving out two senior players, Devon Conway and R Ashwin, and giving 24-year-old Anshul Kamboj and Khaleel Ahmed three overs each in the powerplay, which saw only 42 runs scored for the loss of two wickets, including that of Nicholas Pooran for just 8.
"We made a few changes because we wanted to make sure our first six overs are slightly better because we need more bowlers in the first six," Dhoni said in the post-match presentation. "We were actually putting too much pressure on Ash. He has bowled two overs on wickets that were not doing a lot and the batsmen were just expressing themselves.
"We made a few changes where we could have more bowlers who could bowl in the first six and, if needed - if the fast bowlers, somebody goes for runs - we have Noor [Ahmad], who can drop in with one over. I feel this looks like a better attack, there's more manoeuvrability for the captain. I feel, as a bowling unit, we have done well. As a batting unit, I think we can do even better."
After CSK restricted LSG to 166, which LSG's captain Rishabh Pant said was "10-15 runs short", CSK's new opening pair of Shaik Rasheed and Rachin Ravindra put on 52 in 29 balls that lay the platform for the visitors.
CSK had been struggling to score like other teams in the powerplay and Dhoni had said after their previous game - when they scored just 103 for 9 against KKR - that their kind of line-up was not going to post 60-odd runs in the first six overs. CSK posted nearly that much - 59 for 1 on Monday.
"We were not getting the kind of starts that we wanted when it came to us as a batting unit," he said on Monday, "and the fall of wickets at the wrong time [has hurt us] to some extent, but one of the reasons could be that the Chennai wicket's slightly on the slower side. So, out of the first five or six games that we have played, we have played more games [four out of six] over there.
"The starts of the batting unit has done slightly better when you actually played outside. So, maybe we need to play on wickets that are slightly better, it will give the batsmen the confidence to play their shots because you don't want to play timid cricket. But at the same time, you want to figure out what is your release shot and back yourself and hit that shot. Don't pick an option that is not good for that wicket, but at the same time, it's very important to express [yourself]."