Dhoni: 'Important to get the right combination for next year'

MS Dhoni hasn't given up hope of making the IPL 2025 playoffs, but if things don't go to plan, wants Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to use their six remaining games to figure out their best team for the next year. CSK's nine-wicket defeat against Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede has kept them at the bottom of the table, with four points from eight matches. They are six points away from the team placed fourth, and have very little margin for error.

"With all the games in front of us that we are supposed to win, we will just take it one game at a time," Dhoni said after the match on the broadcast. "And if we lose a few, what will be important for us [is] to get the right combination for next year. We don't want too many players getting changed. So I think what will be important is to try and qualify. But if not, get a secured eleven for the next year and come back strong."

Speaking at the press conference after the game, CSK head coach Stephen Fleming said, "It's hard, really. It's not when you're playing well below par to get enthusiastic about staying in the competition, but that's what we must do, and yes, there will be an opportunity. Nothing will be wasted during this tournament. We look back at other tournaments that haven't gone our way and some of the work we have done at the back end of tournaments have set us up for wins in the following year.

"We are realistic about the position that we are in. But there will no stone left unturned looking for players for next year, combinations for next year, and we'll see it as an opportunity. Not a great opportunity, because we want to be at the pointy end of the competition, but if it works out that there's no chance of us getting through, we'll certainly make the most of it."

As for what's been going wrong, Dhoni said that batters needed to score more to allow their bowlers to have something to play with.

"What we need to realise is that we are successful if we play good cricket. At the same time, if we're not playing good cricket, what is important is not to get too emotional about it," Dhoni said. "But at the same time, you want to be practical. There have been instances in one of the seasons - I think 2020 [when they finished one off the bottom] - which was not great for us.

"But we need to see whether we are playing the right form of cricket. Whether we are applying ourselves, trying to put the amount of runs on the board that's needed for the bowlers to save. So those are the question marks that we have got.

"A few catches, that will help. But other than that, we are just trying to plug in the holes."