Former India and Chennai Super Kings all-rounder Suresh Raina has opened up on CSK's underwhelming performance in the Indian Premier League 2025. CSK are having a horrific time in the league with only two wins in eight matches so far and are reeling at the bottom of the points table.
CSK's batting unit has led them down big time this season as the franchise has found it hard to get going in the powerplay and also post big totals and chase down scores this season. They have not been able to chase down a 180+ target in the league since 2018 and are one of the slowest scoring sides in IPL 2025.
Former all-rounder Raina, who spent majority of his time in IPL with CSK, feels that the franchise did not do well at the mega auction last year. He questioned the franchise for leaving some 'talented players' that were on offer in the auction arena.
"I think, from the coach and the management, the auction has not gone well this year," Raina said on Star Sports. "There were so many youngsters, talented players in the auction, like Priyansh (Arya) who scored a 100 the other day. Even among the more senior players, you left Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul."
Raina added that he has never seen the Super kings struggle this much. "When you see the other teams play, they are attacking so much. (In front of them,) I have never seen a CSK team struggle like this," Raina added.
CSK have hardly fielded youngsters in the past few seasons, including this one. Shaik Rasheed and Ayush Mhatre have now been given opportunities, while they also have a sitting Vansh Bedi. CSK have not invested on youngsters much and went with fringe players Rahul Tripathi, Vijay Shankar and Deepak Hooda, all of which raised questions on the franchise's thinking.
Harbhajan Singh, another former CSK star, highlighted the absence of 'game-changing' youngsters in the team. "Among the youngsters, I have not seen anyone play for CSK who can play a game-changing innings. Those that hunt the talent pool for this team need to also be asked questions of whether they passed on the right information to the (management) based on which the selection (at the auction) took place," Harbhajan said.
