‘Dhoni is carrying team on his shoulders, what are other 10 players doing,’ Raina’s rant on CSK’s slump in IPL 2025

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are almost done for IPL 2025.

Afterlosing their seventh match this season against SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Friday (Apr 25), CSK are on the cusp of playoff elimination, and their former batting star, Suresh Raina, is all but miffed about the situation. They sit at the bottom of the points table with just two wins from nine contested matches, staring at an early exit from the tournament.

In the absence of regular captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, who got ruled out of the tournament with an elbow fracture, veteran MS Dhoni filled in his shoes, captaining the side for the remainder of the season.

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Speaking on CSK’s batting woes in IPL 2025, Raina took a jibe at all players except MS Dhoni, saying if ‘Thala’ has been carrying the team on his shoulders, what are the remaining ten players doing?

Meanwhile, of the 27 players picked for this season, CSK has already used 20 of them, failing to make a winning combination out of any. Raina pinpointed where CSK lost the tournament – at the auction. Detailing what happens behind the scenes and who takes the final call, Raina broke this notion around Dhoni calling out all the shots.

“They always say MS Dhoni makes the final call. But to be very honest, I never attended any of the auctions. I was never a part of those discussions. I always talked about the players who were retained. MS might get a call about whether to go ahead with a player or not - but he's not that involved,” Raina’s shocking revelation in a chat with Star Sports after CSK’s five-wicket loss at the hands of SRH.

“The core group handles the auction - you can imagine, Dhoni can’t have this type of auction. He would maybe name four or five players he wants, and out of them, a few would be retained. Even if an uncapped player is working hard, look at MS Dhoni—being a 43-year-old captain, still giving everything,” he continued.

What are others doing?

Although Dhoni’s performance with the bat has been below-par this season, having hit just 140 runs from nine innings, averaging 28, Raina backs the current CSK captain amid retirement talks, saying he’s doing everything he can for the team at 43, but expressed shock over the others failing to offer any assistance.

“He's playing just for the brand, for his name, for the fandom - and still putting in the effort. At 43, he's doing wicketkeeping, captaining, carrying the entire team on his shoulders. But what are the other ten players doing?

“Those who are paid ₹18 crores, ₹17 crores, ₹12 crores - they're not responding to the captain. Especially when you've never lost to certain teams before - that needs to be rectified. You have to identify - is this player a match-winner? Can I trust this player in the next match? There are players who've been playing there for years - even the older ones. But what are the results? You're losing. The same mistakes are happening every time,” Raina said.

(With inputs from agencies)