KL Rahul shines as DC outclass CSK in Chennai

Chennai Super Kings are starting to lose control of their fortress. For the second time this season, a visiting team that hadn't tasted victory against them at Chepauk in 15 years was able to utterly dominate them. This resulted in the strangest situation. The crowd here bays for MS Dhoni to come out and bat. They cheer their own team's wickets in anticipation of his arrival. Well, on Saturday, he was there in the 11th over, but there was only silence.

In the absence of Faf du Plessis, who was not quite fit to play, KL Rahul opened the batting. He needed a little time to get used to the pace of a pitch that was very dry and therefore prevented the ball from coming into the bat. He was 25 off his first 20 balls.

Rahul found release through Noor Ahmad. He took IPL 2025's highest wicket-taker for 20 off 9 but this wasn't crash, bang, wallop. The bowler missed his mark a couple of times and the batter was confident enough in both his ability and his method to take full toll.

Noor strayed too full once and Rahul hit the half-volley for four. He pulled his length back once, but offered room to free the arms and Rahul swept him hard for six. Sometimes against spinners who are hard to pick out of the hand, the horizontal bat shots work so long as you pick the length.

This was how from 25 off 20 balls, Rahul hit 36 off 18, which included a reverse scoop off Mukesh Choudhary, the only bowler he actually targeted. Mukesh conceded 40% of the boundaries that DC hit.

Even towards the end of Rahul's innings, it was apparent that hitting out was becoming difficult. He only scored 16 off his last 13 balls. DC understood that. Mukesh Kumar got one to stick in the surface and drew a leading edge from Rachin Ravindra. Ruturaj Gaikwad timed the pants off a Mitchell Starc short ball but didn't quite place it well enough. He threw his head back as soon as Jake Fraser-McGurk took the catch at deep backward square leg. CSK were 20 for 2 in the third over. It had been six years since they've been able to chase a total over 180 in the IPL. This was not the start they wanted.

Vijay Shankar had only one boundary from his first 31 deliveries. In that time, he could've been dismissed lbw or run-out. He survived both calls and tried as hard as he could to make the most of them, but it just wouldn't come off. DC were so good in denying him the freedom of his arms. The pitch being slow as well didn't let him get away with the connections that he made. More than once, he grimaced through an innings that brought him 69 runs in 54 balls. DC attempted to find the boundary off 37 balls and succeeded 21 times. CSK actually went harder - they hit out against 38 balls but were only successful 12 times. DC's bowlers harnessed a slow, turning pitch beautifully. They out CSK-ed CSK. Winning the toss and batting first helped.

In the last match, Stephen Fleming said Dhoni cannot bat for a long time and therefore they ration his appearances. That's why he batted at No. 9 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru because there was no point in him coming any earlier.

This time they had no choice. Half the side was in the hut with only 10.4 overs on the board. Kuldeep Yadav had delivered a killer googly to Ravindra Jadeja. The batter did not read it. He wasn't even allowed the chance to pick it off the pitch. The length was so perfect, bringing him forward and then turning the wrong way to hit his pad instead of his flailing blade.

That brought Dhoni to the crease. He's won World Cups before. But this might have been the first time he was batting in front of his parents. They were at the ground, to watch him score 30 off 26 and his team lose by 25 runs. It was a difficult evening for CSK fans. Their chances of winning, according to ESPNcricinfo's Forecaster, was down at 9.51% even before the chase was halfway through. Jadeja is yet to bowl his full quota of overs in four matches. Ashwin has done so only twice. CSK have hit the fewest sixes in IPL 2025. Their middle order (4-7) is struggling badly, averaging 21.76 (third-lowest in the tournament) and striking at 116.94 (lowest).