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Arpit Sachdeva

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Kolkata Knight Riders

Three talking points from CSK vs KKR IPL 2025 clash

Kolkata Knight Riders (Image Credits: Twitter)

It was a disappointing return to captaincy for MS Dhoni, as his side were humbled by Ajinkya Rahane’s Kolkata Knight Riders team in match number 25 of the IPL 2025. None of the Chennai batters could got going, as they fell to the spin gauntlet of Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, and Moeen Ali. A tough day in the office for Chennai Super Kings fans, who have now seen their team lose three on the trot at home. They find themselves on the wrong end of the table now with just one win, having played six matches already.

Here are three important talking points from CSK vs KKR IPL 2025 match: 

1. KKR spinners reign supreme

Chepauk as a venue has generally been friendly towards the spinners, and that has been CSK’s tactic all these years to eke out results at home. However, this time around it was the opposition spinners who made merry on this slow, turning track as they restricted Chennai to 103/9.

Sunil Narine was the pick of the bowlers, as he finished with 3/13 in his four overs, dismissing MS Dhoni once again in his career. Varun Chakravarthy chipped in with a couple of wickets as well, getting rid of Vijay Shankar just as he was getting settled. The Indian mystery spinner also got the wicket of Deepak Hooda, who had another failure in IPL 2025. 

There was also some inspired captaincy from Ajinkya Rahane, who chose to pick Moeen Ali over Spencer Johnson for this game. The English offie delivered, getting the wicket of Devon Conway to start the proceedings. 

2. Chennai's batting lacks firepower

Looking at the game today and most CSK games of IPL 2025, it almost feels like their batters are stuck playing an outdated brand of cricket. In this modern age of power hitters who can hit sixes for fun, Chennai have too many classic batters who are good timers of the ball and who need time to settle into an innings. 

The likes of Conway, Tripathi, Vijay Shankar, and Jadeja are batters who like to thread the ball in gaps, picking up the odd boundaries. That tactic doesn’t seem to cut it in modern-day T20 cricket where 200 seems to be the norm, and batters are expected to hit sixes from the get-go. Chennai Super Kings seemed to have their strategy wrong this time at the IPL auction, as they relied more on experience than muscle power, and the shortcomings are for all to see in the IPL. 

3. Vintage Sunil Narine performance 

Sunil Narine rolled back the clock with a Man of the Match performance as he silenced the Chepauk Stadium. He was on song with bat and ball, finishing off this game quickly. Narine was the pick of the bowlers with 3/13, getting the wickets of Jadeja, Dhoni and Deepak Hooda.

Then with the bat, he scored a first ball six off Anshul Kambhoj, announcing his intentions early. The Trinidadian took down Ravi Ashwin later, smoking a couple of fours and sixes to give Kolkata a lofty head start in the powerplay.

He couldn’t stay till the end as Noor Ahmad castled him, but his impact was telling as KKR could chase down the target in 61 balls. The Sunil Narine who was scoring freely and getting big runs last season in the IPL was back for Kolkata this Friday evening, turning back the years with his all-round performance.

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