IPL 2025: 3 reasons why CSK lost to PBKS

The Chennai Super Kings lost by 18 runs against the Punjab Kings in the 22nd thriller of the Indian Premier League 2025 on April 8th. The side had a great start to the tournament, defeating arch-rivals Mumbai Indians.

Ruturaj Gaikwad and his men suffered four straight defeats, placing them in ninth place in the points table. In the same vein,

Here are three reasons why CSK lost to PBKS.

Devon Conway’s lack of aggression

Devon Conway became the third fastest to score 1000 IPL runs in terms of the number of innings. The Southpaw scored 69 (49) before getting forced with a retired-out dismissal. His knock did not help CSK to chase down a big total. A chase of 220 needed a better intent from the opener.

The star batter was 26(23) halfway through CSK’s innings, which indirectly put pressure on Shivam Dube to accelerate from his end. In the end, Conway chewed up many deliveries and scored at a slightly lower rate, which led to more runs left to be chased for MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja in the last few overs.

Poor Fielding

CSK had a poor outing as a fielding unit against PBKS. In the very second ball of the match, Khaleel Ahmed dropped a catch of his bowling and gave Priyansh Arya the first life of his match. In the first over of the match, Vijay Shankar dropped Marcus Stoinis’ catch.

An over later, Ravichandran Ashwin dropped a rough return catch that Arya had handed to him. Priyansh gained yet another life off Ashwin’s bowling in the 12th over when Mukesh Chowdhary misjudged the catch. Rachin Ravindra dropped a sitter and let Shashank Singh add many runs to PBKS’ total.

Inability to break the 7th wicket stand

One of the decisive points of the match was the 7th wicket stand between Shashank Singh and Marco Jansen. From 154/6 after 13.4 overs, PBKS ended up with a score of 219/6 after 20 overs. In the 38-ball period, the duo added 65 runs, which made a massive difference to the total.

While Shashank scored an unbeaten 52*(36), Jansen scored an unbeaten 34*(19). There were some chances CSK missed, which could’ve helped them to restrict PBKS to a total of around 200. But the 7th wicket partnership was huge for the home side.