'Jadeja, Dhoni could've gone harder. Why the reluctance...?' CSK's 'vulnerability' exposed; Gaikwad told to rethink plan

Veteran cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara and the legendary Ian Bishop exposed Chennai Super Kings' vulnerability' as he questioned their "reluctance" to go hard earlier in the chase against Rajasthan Royals on Sunday in Guwahati. Chennai suffered a second successive loss in the ongoing IPL 2025, as they fell short by just six runs in the chase of 183 against the Royals.

Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Bishop reckoned Chennai's batting lineup has been missing the structured approach this season. The former champions have managed just one win in three games thus far. In his assessment of the two losses, the former West Indies cricketer questioned why Chennai had been hell-bent on taking the game deep when they could have pressed on the accelerator earlier in the chase.

"I would say, from what I've seen, yes. When Devon was in good touch... he's not been in good touch, you had a structure coming down. Shivam Dube, for the last couple of years, has been playing well. From the outside, I just looked at CSK, and I have a few more questions. On the point of taking it deep, why the reluctance to go hard earlier, given that you have time for those guys to come and why take it so deep?" he asked.

Chennai batted second in all the three games this season. But while Rachin Ravindra's measured approach on a sluggish home track took Chennai past the finish line in their opener against Mumbai Indians, they fell short against both Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Rajasthan Royals last week. They lost by 50 runs in their second home game against Rajat Patidar's men while Rajasthan scripted a six-run win in the thriller on Sunday.

Pujara, a former CSK batter, explained that while the team earlier relied on the strategy to target the less experienced bowlers during a chase, bowlers have evolved and are less likely to deliver a loose ball during crunch situations.

"One of the reasons I've understood in the past is that you put more pressure on the less experienced bowler and that's when you can deliver. But things have changed. Now the bowlers are a lot smarter. Even someone like Sandeep Sharma is executing his yorkers well. Whereas five years down the line, if he was bowling the same over, he might have made a few more errors. And that's where CSK have pressure," he said.

'Jadeja, Dhoni could've gone harder'

Pujara, however, reckoned that MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja could have gone harder during the chase. The pair scored 35 runs in 22 balls, which included a six-run over against Maheesh Theekshana and five straight singles against Sandeep Sharma in the 17th over.

"They left it a little longer. They could have accelerated when Jadeja and MS were batting, they could have gone hard a little earlier. But there are two sides to it. If one of them had gotten out, then things would have been different," he said.

Pujara urged CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad to rethink his batting plan and called for the inclusion of Devon Conway.

"I felt that overall, in this game, CSK's batting lineup was vulnerable. We have seen that there were not enough batters in the middle order who were batting well. So I think it's high time that they look at a different batting combination because Jamie Overton hasn't bowled well, Rahul Tripathi has been struggling a bit. So that's where I think Conway should come in."