MS Dhoni isn’t throwing in the towel just yet, but he’s also keeping one eye on the future. After Chennai Super Kings (CSK) slumped to a heavy nine-wicket defeat against Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede, Dhoni acknowledged that while the team is still in the race for the IPL 2025 playoffs, the remaining games could become an opportunity to prepare for IPL 2026.
CSK now sit at the bottom of the table with just four points from eight matches — six points adrift of fourth place — and have little room for error going forward.
“With the matches we have left, we’ll take it one game at a time,” Dhoni said during the post-match broadcast. “If we lose a few more, then it becomes important to identify the right combination for next year. We don’t want to overhaul the squad entirely, so if qualification slips away, our focus should shift to locking in a solid eleven for the next season and coming back stronger.”
Planning for the Long Run
CSK head coach Stephen Fleming echoed Dhoni’s sentiment in the post-match press conference, emphasizing that no match will go to waste, even if the season doesn’t end in a playoff berth.
“It’s tough to stay motivated when performances are well below par, but that’s what we must do,” Fleming said. “We’ve had seasons like this before, and the work done at the end of those campaigns often helped us build a title-winning team for the next year.
“We’re realistic about where we stand, but we won’t stop searching for the right players and combinations for next year. If the playoffs become unreachable, we’ll turn this into a building phase.”
Fixing the Present
Reflecting on CSK’s struggles, Dhoni pointed to the batting unit’s underwhelming displays as a key issue.
“We need to be scoring more runs to give our bowlers a chance,” he said. “It’s important not to get emotional during a tough season — you’ve got to stay practical. We’ve seen a bad year before — like in 2020 — and we need to ask if we’re playing the right brand of cricket.”
He added that while fielding errors, such as dropped catches, have cost the team, the main focus is on finding balance and plugging the gaps.
“We’re trying to figure things out — if we’re applying ourselves properly, if we’re giving our bowlers something to defend. Those are the questions we’re asking right now,” Dhoni concluded.
As CSK look ahead to their remaining games, they’ll be walking a tightrope between salvaging this season and laying the foundation for the next.
