CSK's IPL 2025 - A disaster that was waiting to unfold

Chennai Super Kings prior two seasons before 2025 fetched reasonably positive results and coming into IPL 2025, there was plenty expected of the men representative of a lion sized past and seeped in yellow to add another coveted title #6 to their lustrous trophy laden cabinet. 2023 witnessed CSK conquer title No.5 in a thrilling final for the ages with a sixer and a boundary scored off the last 2 deliveries to edge out defending champions GT and seal CSK an improbable win and cement their legacy as one of the greatest teams of the IPL which set foot since the summer of 2008. 2024 however didn't go all to plan but again it wasn't a horror show by any stretch of the imagination. They just lost out by a whisker in making it to the playoffs. With 11 needed off 5 deliveries to qualify against RCB, some caution exercised could have actually seen CSK crossing the line and you never know what could have happened in the playoffs. 

2025 was the IPL season consisting of the mega auctions. CSK have always been a tried and tested formula based team pursuing on with the seasonal veterans and not to take credit away, this approach has actually worked well over a period of time. Irrespective of the outcome of this season, they have been the most consistent IPL side in reaching the playoffs and have played for the big final prize on 9 occasions out of 16 events participated. (They didn't compete for 2 seasons between 2016-17 on account of being banned).

The T20 format however has evolved and it's seen as a young man's game with huge big hitting potential igniting euphoria and getting the crowd on to it's feet. The IPL as a brand has been all rizz and razzmatazz growing multi-fold in becoming a supreme cash cow generating gargantuan wealth and seen as one of the perennial events of the sporting calendar worldwide. The 2025 auction set the tone for an overhaul and it was the perfect opportunity for a team like CSK to seek some fresh blood and set the foundation towards planning for the future especially with their talisman MS Dhoni on the verge of retirement. This also proved a ripe opportunity to develop a solid grounding for building a renewed young side who would be ready to take on the mantle when the time eventually comes about. 

Coming into the auction of 2025, CSK was handed a purse of 120 crores and ended up retaining Jadeja (18 crores), Gaikwad (18 crores), Pathirana (13 crores), Dube (12 crores) and Dhoni (4 crores as part of uncapped player) with all of them accounting for a combined sum total of 55 crores. This still left them remaining with 65 crores to pick a cream of players from a multitude pool of both local and overseas talents.

CSK botched it up on 3 key parameters - Strategy, Combination and Performance. First up was the questionable decision to retain the 2 senior pro's Dhoni and Jadeja. The former was acceptable though debatable because he was the fulcrum who constructed the base of CSK and also considering the fan following the man commands, it would have been an outcry to see him represent any other side than his beloved CSK. Also at a prize of 4 crores, it's not like a huge step off the peddle anyways. However coming to Jadeja, surely there should have been more reasoning and thought process. Jadeja is an excellent utility cricketer but well past his prime and also a retired International T20 cricketer at the time of reckoning of the auctions. To give a slice of 15% of the purse to a retired cricketer absolutely made no sense. Even if they were hell bent on retaining him, they could have easily got him in the auction for around half the prize. This was an erroneous error on all counts. Retention of Ruturaj was a given considering he was the sole contender to fill in MS shoes and already made captain at the helm. Pathirana was a far cry of the performer that he was in 2023 with a rather hapless 2024 IPL season and with all due respect to Dube, though he can tonk the ball a country mile, he always has been someone who takes time to settle in and isn't the one who can just go all guns blazing. The other retention's can be contentious but Jadeja's especially at that prize was no doubt a blunder of epic proportions.

Coming to the actual auctions, CSK was caught napping with respect to the combinations. With them already retaining Jadeja, there was a heavy bid to bring on Ashwin to partner in crime and reunite the spin twins. The prize which they went for almost breaking the 10 crore barrier was again dubious but can still said to be justifiable. If they were anyways zeroing in on Ashwin, there was absolutely no need to also go in for Noor Ahmed. The latter agreed has been the better of most of CSK's performers this season but to spend almost 40 crores which is a third of the purse value of 120 crores on just 3 players with the same speciality of spin bowling made absolutely no sense whatsoever. It was a given that they were all expected to be part of the playing team considering the prize commanded but the decision holistically just felt ludicrous and out of sync. Since Jadeja was anyways there, it should have been clearly either a homecoming for Ash or Noor and certainly and undoubtedly not both. This was as illogical as it could get.

On the fast bowling side, the management hardly went anywhere close to bagging any marquee name. Someone like a Hazlewood or Starc could have bought in a marked difference. Even a localite like Siraj/Avesh/Akashdeep could have helped in a major way. The worst was however reserved on the batting front which is the genre that arguably defines a T20 game to it's zenith. CSK went in for old foes well past their 30s by picking the likes of Tripathi, Hooda and Vijay Shankar. This was as outlandish as it could get. The combination of the side appeared forlorn and all at sea. Power hitting which is a forte of IPL cricket somehow seemed to have been blanked out and blindfolded the management. Even on the All rounders set, they went in for a Sam Curran, someone not renowned to be a power striker and another well past 30 candidate in the form of Jamie Overton. One should seriously wonder what CSK were cooking at the auction as it was literally a nightmare unravelling of all sorts. It must be said, they just went absolute bonkers with their picks at the auction.

And now coming to the performance on the field, there was nothing much to write home about. Though they began well winning their first game at home against MI, it all went downhill from there on. The fortress of CSK which teams had been battling for years to breach managed to chop it down without even blinking an eyelid. All those proud home records were eviscerated and obliterated much to the chagrin of hardcore CSK fans. Ruturaj's captaincy in the initial games felt a lot left to be desired with tactics simply not in place and his usage of bowlers was bewildering to say the least. As CSK's outright best batsman, his ruling out of the tournament led the batting performance to crumble even further. It was a sad sight to witness a once champion side struggling to chase anything around 180 with absolute zilch batting firepower. For most other teams, it felt like a victory against CSK was a foregone conclusion and just a means of boosting up the net run rate a further notch. The performance on the field was just a reflection of the poor strategy set and the lacklustre combination laid out which just didn't inspire indication of any confidence. 

Even in the match to determine the wooden spoon, CSK were undone with some bizarre ideas at play by perking Ashwin & Jadeja up the order and preserving the so called big hitters at the posterior. Also, lesser said the better on the inability to pick up runs at the fag end of the innings. However, CSK put up their most commanding performance in the last match of the season by registering a comprehensive victory over one of the table toppers GT. This meant that they ended up winning both their first and last matches of the season but it was all mostly downhill in between. This also in eventuality, meant that a much fancied and ever loved cherished team like CSK finish a shocking bottom most in the standings. The 2025 IPL in effect was a damp squib and a season which every loyal CSK supporter would want to forget very soon. It was in essence a dream that dissipated even before inception.

On the youngsters side, CSK unleashed an imperious up and coming talent on the horizon in the form of Ayush Mhatre who was brought in to the fray when CSK were almost done and dusted in the season. On the international front, a major discovery was the dashing South African youngster Dewald Brevis. But even he was being made to cool his heels and brought in only when CSK were virtually eliminated from the tournament. Even someone like an Urvil Patel came in at the very last moment and played a rapturous innings from out of nowhere. There were a few others who didn't even manage to bag a game. It begs the question as to why some of these youngsters were kept in oblivion until the very end till it became too late to make any sort of comeback.

The underlying problem can accentuate and compound further as well. CSK had a great chance to make amends by playing well at the auctions but everything lies at the core and if that's brittle, things are bound to eventually fall apart. By laying down a cistern of players well past their prime and hardly exposing the young crop of players by giving them the requisite opportunities, CSK will have to play their cards very closely and cannot afford to have a single negative streak while planning for the 2026 season. CSK did bounce back remarkably well after a rather poor 2022 season to win the title the following year. In 2018, after being away from the wilderness for 2 years they came stomping back to win the trophy. CSK is known for making strong comebacks and the past is a firm indicator of that. Thus hope is still there but tough decisions have to be taken and the fans must stop hero worshipping individual players and back the team as a wholesome unit to the hilt. It may take even a year or two to rebuild but the faith and unity must remain in order to see the CSK franchise restore and re-conquer hallowed glory in the IPL seasons that follow.