CSK, SRH battle it out for “worst batting side” title in IPL 2025

We are not even at the halfway mark of IPL 2025 and two sides are already battling it out to determine which is the worst batting side in the tournament. Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad, two sides who had the reputation of having a good batting units, have completely flipped the script this time. Game after game, CSK and SRH batters have continued to flop barring perhaps one standout performance from the entire lot.

CSK or SRH, who is more miserable?

Let’s start with CSK. With their 18-run loss to PBKS on Tuesday, they now have not managed to chase a 175+ run target for the 11th consecutive time since 2021. To put it simple terms, their batting has been just miserable.

On the other hand, SRH – a side studded with stars and considered to be a batting powerhouse – has been quite the opposite. The likes of Head, Sharma, Klaasen and Nitish have absolutely flopped so far. If there is one similarity between both SRH and CSK apart from their batting, it is that both teams have lost four out of five games played so far. Let’s take a closer look at how the batting units have performed.

Opening woes

Inconsistency is the right word to describe the plight of both CSK and SRH’s opening combo so far. The five-time champions experimented with Rahul Tripathi as an opener in the first three games which backfired badly. Then they decided to bring in the benched Devon Conway who fared decently well in the last two games. Meanwhile, Rachin Ravindra has struggled to find consistency. CSK have the lowest scoring rate (7.50), lowest average (22.50) and lowest boundary percentage (17.24 %) among all teams in the powerplay in this IPL

As for SRH, the opening combo of Head and Abhishek have simply failed to click as a unit. While the Australian has showed glimpses of his prowess in some games, Sharma has failed to fire this time. Once considered the most deadliest opening combo, “Travishek” are now more of a travesty rather.

Team	Matches	Runs scored by openers
CSK	5	257
SRH	5	199

In an era when openers of all other IPL teams are going berserk in powerplay, both CSK and SRH seem to have lost the plot. While CSK are playing cricket some medieval level cricket, showing no signs of urgency whatsoever, SRH have paid the price for their over-aggressive approach. After all, it is the responsibility of the top-order to go all guns blazing in the powerplay. However, it has not been the case so far for either CSK or SRH.

Misfiring & inconsistent no.3s

The number three spot is a point of concern for both CSK and SRH. Not because they haven’t found the perfect fits, but due to the inconsistency of the batters. Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ishan Kishan have been highly inconsistent at that position for their teams, putting all the pressure on the middle-order.

Player	Matches	Runs
Ruturaj Gaikwad	5	122
Ishan Kishan	5	127

Gaikwad’s scores so far are 53, 0, 63, 5 and 1. On most occasions, the CSK skipper has come out to bat in the powerplay after the team loses an opener early. Yet, he has struggled to score runs.

Kishan, on the other hand, started his stint with SRH with a banger. However, following his century on his SRH debut, he has tasted nothing but failure. Ishan’s scores so far are 106, 0, 2, 2 and 17.

Medieval middle-order batting

Both CSK and SRH are also troubled by their middle-order. For the Men in Yellow, Dube has just not been able to go all guns blazing. His scores are 9, 19, 18, 18 and 42. Despite coming in as an impact player, he has been unable to stick around and post a good score to help the side finish games or guide them to a good total.

MS Dhoni has been criticized for his slow-paced knocks and his position in the batting order. While he did correct the latter in the last two games, CSK have still ended up on the losing side. He has been consistent however, with scores of 0, 30*, 16, 30* and 27.

Jadeja hasn’t got a lot of time in the middle. Shankar played a painstaking slow-paced knock against DC. Such is the state of CSK’s middle-order.

Aniket Verma has been the only consistent middle-order batter for SRH. The likes of Klaasen, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Abhinav Manohar have hardly performed in each and every game.