MS Dhoni calls himself undeserving of PoTM award vs LSG, claims CSK stronger without R Ashwin

MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) took on the Rishabh Pant-led Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the 30th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 on Monday, April 14.

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) won against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the IPL 2025 match by 5 wickets at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium.

It's good to win a game - MS Dhoni

Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to bowl first. The CSK bowlers looked good in the match and restricted LSG to 166/7, with Matheesha Pathirana and Ravindra Jadeja bagging two wickets each, while Khaleel Ahmed and Anshul Kamboj picking up one wicket each.

Chasing the target, Shaik Rasheed and Rachin Ravindra batted brilliantly to provide CSK with a good start. Then, Shivam Dube and MS Dhoni joined forces to finish off the match in 19.3 overs.

During the post-match presentation ceremony, MS Dhoni, who also won the Player of the Match award for his 26* off 11, expressed his delight over the win. He said:

"It's good to win a game. When you play a tournament like this, you want to win games. Unfortunately, the [earlier] matches didn't go our way for whatever reasons. There can be lots of reasons. It's good to have a win on our side.

"Gives confidence to the whole team and helps us improve in areas we want to improve. We all knew that when it doesn't come your way in cricket, God makes it very tough, and it was a tough game."

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We were putting too much pressure on Ash - MS Dhoni

MS Dhoni further talked about bringing in Shaik Rasheed and Jamie Overton for Ravichandran Ashwin and Devon Conway and said that they needed to make changes because things weren't working for them.

He added that they put Ravichandran Ashwin under too much pressure, and without him, the CSK bowling attack looks better.

"If you see the powerplay, whether it was the combination or the conditions, we were struggling with the ball. And then we weren't able to get the start we wanted as a batting unit. Also the fall of wickets. We keep losing wickets at the wrong time to some extent," MS Dhoni said.

"One of the reasons could be that the Chennai wicket is slightly on the slower side. When we have played away from home, the batting unit has done slightly better. Maybe we need to play on wickets that are slightly better so that it'll give the batters confidence to play their shots. You don't want to play timid cricket. We were putting too much pressure on Ash.

"He was bowling two overs in the first six. We made changes and this looks like a better attack. As a bowling unit we've done well. As a batting unit, we can do better. Roles and responsibilities - that's what we talk about. If you get off to a good start, and you're someone who can play through the innings, then why not. I think he batted really well today."

MS Dhoni further lauded Shaik Rasheed and expressed his surprise over winning the Player of the Match for the first time in IPL since 2019.

"He has been with us for quite a few years (Shaik Rasheed). This year he has been batting really well in the nets against both pacers and spinners. It's just the start. He has the capability to dominate with authentic shots. Even today I was like - "why are they giving me the award?" Noor bowled really well," Dhoni said.

How did CSK perform in the previous IPL match against LSG?

In their previous IPL match against Lucknow Super Giants, the Chennai Super Kings delivered a good batting performance but a failure with the ball led to them suffering a six-wicket loss at home.

After being put in to bat, CSK lost Ajinkya Rahane early, but captain Ruturaj Gaikwad led from the front and smashed an unbeaten 108 off 60 balls.

Daryl Mitchell and Ravindra Jadeja failed to provide any support to their skipper but Shivam Dube stepped up and smashed 66 off just 27 balls. The duo added a brilliant 104-run stand and helped CSK reach a formidable score of 210 in their 20 overs.

With the ball, CSK started well as Deepak Chahar dismissed Quinton de Kock in the first over, and Mustafizur Rahman sent KL Rahul packing in the 5th over.

However, LSG all-rounder Marcus Stoinis made things harder for CSK as he played a knock for the ages. Despite Matheesha Pathirana dismissing Nicholas Pooran and Devdutt Padikkal, CSK couldn’t stop LSG from completing the run-chase in 19.3 overs as Marcus Stoinis slammed 124 off 63 balls to single-handedly demolish the home team.

Also Read: IPL Points Table, Orange Cap, Purple Cap After LSG vs CSK Match 30 - IPL 2025