Chennai Super Kings’ batting coach Michael Hussey said the side had some ‘soul-searching’ to do after a drubbing at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium on Friday.
The eight-wicket loss to KKR was the Super Kings’ fifth consecutive defeat in IPL 2025 and also the third straight loss at Chepauk, their ‘Anbuden’.
“I’m really disappointed with the result and the performance tonight. I think we need to all have a good, hard look at ourselves individually about how we’re going about it and look for ways to improve,” the Australian said at the post-match press conference.
CSK has copped some stick for its sedate batting over the season, with the top order failing to provide any sort of impetus for the rest of the batting line-up to build upon. However, Hussey still believes that the team has the right players to help the team turn its fortunes around.
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“There’s a lot of talk about the style of our play and things like that, but the players we’ve got, we don’t want to ask them to play in a completely different way that’s natural to them,” the coach said.
“I still think we’ve got the right players, but we’ve just got to try and help them find some confidence and consistency and then hopefully we can build from that,” he added.
With captain Ruturaj Gaikwad ruled out of the tournament with an elbow injury, CSK missed a batter who had the ability to take the game deep while also scoring at a fair clip. Hussey concurred that his absence was a huge setback.
“In my view, he’s one of India’s best players. He’s such a classy player. He’s got all the skills, all the shots, but also a great cricket brain. He understands when to attack, when to maybe defend and how to manipulate the field,” the former CSK opener said.
“Those cricket smarts that have been synonymous with CSK over many years, Ruturaj certainly embodies a lot of those qualities. It’s a massive loss for us, no question about that,” he added.
Despite the team languishing in the bottom half of the table, Hussey said there was still scope for the team to fight for a playoff spot.
“We’re certainly not putting the white flag up just yet. In a long tournament like the IPL, it is about momentum. It’s a long way ahead, and we certainly need to change things around. But, we still believe that we can do that,” Hussey said.
“I’ll be the first to acknowledge we haven’t played consistently good cricket so far in the tournament, but we have the belief that we have the talent in the room and the expertise to still make it through to the playoffs,” he added.