CSK and SRH have had a poor campaign in the ongoing IPL 2025. The former champions find themselves in the last two positions in the points table after 8 matches, and find themselves in a must-win situation for the rest of the tournament. Their highly negative net run rate will not help them in any way, either.

CSK, who won the title in 2023, and SRH, who were the finalists in the previous season, had a good start to their campaign in the IPL 2025. While SRH registered the second-highest total in IPL’s history, CSK beat arch-rivals, Mumbai Indians, in a convincing way. Since then, both the teams have lost 6 of their 7 matches without giving enough fight to their opponents.

Mistakes made by CSK and SRH in IPL 2025

1. Poor form of key batters

Both SRH and CSK’s key batters have struggled to score runs consistently at a good batting strike rate. While Pat Cummins’ men haven’t been able to make the most of the batting-friendly conditions at home, the Chennai batters have lacked intent more often than not. The poor form of batters is the main reason behind their current positions on the IPL 2025 Points Table.

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All of the hitters in the Super Kings lineup who have played five or more innings, with the exception of MS Dhoni and Ruturaj Gaikwad, have a strike rate of less than 135, which is alarming in the current format. Their season-long batting total is 40, and none of their hitters average more than that. Names like Deepak Hooda and Rahul Tripathi have had a lot of failures, which is the main cause of their decline in the current season.

With the exception of Heinrich Klaasen, none of the SRH batters with five or more innings average more than 31, which says a lot about their inconsistent play. Batters like Ishan Kishan and Abhishek Sharma haven’t done much since their one major knock. In addition to the experienced Travis Head, SRH has suffered greatly as a result of the poor batting of Nitish Kumar Reddy and Abhinav Manohar.

Questionable retention choices 

Both the sides’ retentions were highly questionable due to the auction dynamics. SRH retained Heinrich Klaasen at a whopping INR 23 crores, the most during retention, and the Proteas cricketer has not justified his heavy price tag yet. While captain Pat Cummins was retained for INR 18 crores, openers Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head were retained for INR 14 crores, respectively. A huge chunk of their purse went to these 4 players, which did not allow them to splurge during the two days of the mega auction.

On the other hand, CSK were smart in retaining MS Dhoni at INR 4 crores as an uncapped player. Captain Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ravindra Jadeja were retained for INR 18 crores respectively, while Shivam Dube and Matheesha Pathirana cost them INR 12 and 13 crores respectively. Among these, Klaasen, Gaikwad, and Jadeja cost them more than they probably would’ve gotten at the auctions.

Mediocre bowling attack

While CSK has a mediocre bowling attack in the ongoing season, the Hyderabad-based franchise has arguably the worst bowling attack for a team in the IPL 2025. For the five-time champions, Noor Ahmad and Khaleel Ahmed have been great, while for Hyderabad, only Harshal Patel has been impressive enough.

Among the bowlers with at least 4 innings in the season, CSK’s Noor and Khaleel have been good with good bowling averages and strike rates. While Jadeja has been mediocre, Pathirana has failed to claim wickets in the middle overs. The biggest disappointment for them has been Ravichandran Ashwin, who hasn’t picked a lot of wickets and gone for runs.

SRH, as a bowling unit, has failed collectively. Apart from Harshal Patel, other bowlers have an economy of over 9.50, a bowling average of more than 40, and a bowling strike rate of over 23.00. The failures of key bowlers like Mohammed Shami and others like Simarjeet Singh have proven costly for the 2016 champions.