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Sunil Gavaskar attributes MI and CSK’s struggles in IPL 2025 to their reluctance to change their batting order. MI are seventh with two wins, while CSK are tenth with one win.
CSK and MI have a combined three wins this season. (Picture Credit: Sportzpics)
Sunil Gavaskar has attributed Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK)’s struggles in the ongoing IPL 2025 season to their common ‘stubbornness’ in changing their batting order. The India legend feels that both teams lack the ‘superfast decision-making’ that’s necessary for today’s era of T20 cricket, which might also hinder their potential comeback from the bottom half to the top four this season.
MI are seventh in the points table with just two wins in their first six games, while CSK are languishing at 10th, having won just their first match (against MI) and lost the next five on the trot. MI got their second win only on Sunday, against Delhi Capitals, while CSK, now under MS Dhoni’s captaincy after Ruturaj Gaikwad’s injury, will play their next match on Monday evening against Lucknow Super Giants at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow.
“Both teams have shown a stubbornness to change the batting order that is not producing runs for them,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for mid-day. “Ruturaj Gaikwad, who has made a name for himself with heaps of runs as an opener, had before his unfortunate injury, dropped himself to bat at the fall of the first wicket. Now, why would a skipper do that unless he is out of form and the other openers are batting superbly and are in much better form than he is in. That is not the case and so invariably when he went into bat the Chennai team had lost a wicket in the Powerplay and he had to be a bit watchful and in the process a lot of dot balls would be the result.”
For Mumbai, Gavaskar pointed at their use of Tilak Varma, one of their best performers in recent years who is playing well despite not getting enough deliveries to face due to his batting spot in the middle-order.
“Similarly, the Mumbai team’s reluctance to send Tilak Varma at No. 3 despite his stellar record for India at that number is baffling indeed,” Gavaskar said. “However good an overseas batter may be, it is not easy for him to immediately come to terms with the Indian pitches, which is all the more reason for an Indian who has thrived at that number should be sent there and not dropped down the order. There’s still more than half the tournament to be played, so there’s plenty of matches to be won and climb up the ladder.”
“There was a time when Mumbai fans weren’t too worried if their team started slowly because they knew that they would come back strongly in the second half. However, the last couple of years have shown that the bounceability is no longer the same. T20 cricket demands quick thinking and super fast decision making and that is yet to be seen from both Chennai and Mumbai,” he concluded.
