Pretenders of IPL 2025: How CSK, SRH, and RR lost their way this season

‌As the Indian Premier League turned adult in 2025, it brought with it a spree of changes like your average hormonal teenager aged 18. The salary cap read an unprecedented 120 crores, as many as six players could be retained including a couple for just four crores each, and the rejigged Right to Match rules seemed to surpass the offside rule in complication for a hot minute. All this culminated in what we are calling the ‘Mega Auction’ phenomenon.

If you told a Chennai Super Kings fan ahead of the season that Mahendra Singh Dhoni would be leading the team again, and have both Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in his ranks, they might have booked tickets to Kolkata straightaway for the final. Instead, they are not even travelling as far as the Chepauk for the first time in forever.

We’ll get to the obvious batting flaws, but it is the bowling that first deserves its due of criticism. It is only fair given the spin trio of Noor Ahmad, Ravindra Jadeja, and Ravinchandran Ashwin were chosen to be the team's backbone with a spin-friendly Chepauk at their behest. Turns out, the Chepauk isn’t the same dust bowl anymore. And while the Afghan has more than delivered with 14 scalps, the other two have combined for just seven with Ashwin finding himself warming the bench. Consequently, CSK have taken just 23 scalps between overs six and 16 – the second least in IPL 2025. Their economy in this phase has risen too since last year, largely courtesy of Matheesha Pathirana’s economy soaring from sub-eight in 2024 to well over 10 this season.

But that is not what makes them one of the worst teams to be assembled in competition history. Chennai’s success has almost always been earmarked with a successful opening stand, be it Watson-Rayudu, Vijay-Hussey, or Ruturaj Gaikwad with Faf du Plessis in 2021 and Devon Conway in 2023. Not only did the CSK skipper drop himself down the order, but also failed to find a stable opening partner when he did come up top, and now finds himself injured. The lack of form for Rahul Tripathi and Deepak Hooda made matters worse, with the 2010s-esque batting approaches of Vijay Shankar and Ravindra Jadeja providing little cause for comfort. As a result, Chennai have the second lowest average opening stand as well as the lowest strike rate in all three phases of the game.

Sun sets on Sunrisers Hyderabad

‘Revolutionary’ – that is how Sunrisers Hyderabad’s 2024 IPL campaign was most commonly described. Their opening duo of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, cutely monikered Travishek, broke scoring records for fun to become the best powerplay pair across a season in tournament history. Come 2025, and their strike rate through the first six overs has fallen from an IPL-best 177.43 to 139.51 (only better than CSK). 

Yet, as was the case with the Whistle Podu clan, an equally glaring problem lies elsewhere. All said and done, Sunrisers’ numbers with the bat remain half-decent but the same cannot be said for their bowling. The side has the worst economy rate in all three phases of the game. The gamble of letting go two defensive bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and T Natarajan, who are both adept and proven at keeping runs in check on a high-scoring venue such as Hyderabad, has resulted in outright losses. Their replacement Mohammed Shami has a history of blowing hot and cold in the IPL -- with 2025 being colder than the tundras, and Harshal Patel has failed to make much of an impact so far on the back of a Purple Cap season. At the death, where Purple Patel's forte lies, SRH have scalped just 11 wickets at an economy of 12.36 – worst on both accounts by quite some distance. The injury to Adam Zampa might have played a role as settled batters often manage to survive till the death, given that the team has the third least wickets in the middle overs.

Maybe if they find a time machine and go to the start of the season, all they would need is a couple of purple patches and showings of individual brilliance from their many star players to cruise into the top four. With the playoffs also set to be in Hyderabad this year, Kavya Maran must be rueing her chances right about now. 

Once is a pattern. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is just out and out criminal… you all know what’s being talked about. The fact that Rajasthan Royals might struggle to finish off games was evident pre-tournament itself, given the surprising retention of Shimron Hetmyer for an astronomical 11 crores and a refusal to reinforce the position. The idea was clear – backing two Indian talents in Shubham Dubey and Dhruv Jurel to take over the mantle.

In fact, it is the same philosophy that runs through their entire batting lineup –  a local top-six with Hetmyer as the only foreigner to shore it off. And it has worked out largely well, considering Rajasthan have the best powerplay numbers in the league be it in terms of scoring rates or frequency of dismissals despite only a half-fit Sanju Samson at their disposal. However, a lack of clarity in the team management has impacted performances. Riyan Parag has gone from a 500-run plus season to struggling to understand his role in the team, given the frequent shuffle with Nitish Rana at three or four. Similarly, Rana’s destructive capabilities against spin have remained unutilized – even though the veteran has the 10th best strike rate in the league against slower bowlers, Rajasthan’s middle-overs strike rate remains the fourth worst in the league. Similarly, Dubey and Jurel’s incapability to capitalize on strong foundations and get going from the offset has left them with a paltry death strike rate of 157.14, only worse than Chennai and Lucknow.