"He is resigned to the fate that this team is not going anywhere" - Aakash Chopra on MS Dhoni's statement after CSK's IPL 2025 loss vs MI

Former India player Aakash Chopra has noted that the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have started investing in youth after enduring a horror start to their campaign in IPL 2025. He pointed out that even MS Dhoni acknowledged in the post-match interview that they are trying to build a team for the next season.

CSK suffered a nine-wicket loss to the Mumbai Indians (MI) in Match 38 of IPL 2025 in Mumbai on Sunday, April 20. The visitors posted a below-par 176/5 after being asked to bat first, which was easily chased down by the home team with 26 deliveries to spare.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra', the former India opener opined that CSK have started planning for the future, highlighting that their talismanic leader Dhoni also admitted the same.

"When I look at it from Chennai's perspective, they have started going young. That change is visible. They are assembling a lot of 20-year-old kids, whether it's Shaik Rasheed, Ayush Mhatre, Noor Ahmad, (Matheesha) Pathirana or Anshul Kamboj," Chopra said (4:45).

"They are taking a complete turn, and Dhoni also said that. I think he is resigned to the fate that this team is not going anywhere. So they are trying that even if they spend money and release a few players, their core shouldn't change," he added.

At the post-match interview, MS Dhoni stated that they will be taking it one game at a time. He added that they will look to assemble a good combination for the next season if they don't qualify for the IPL 2025 playoffs.

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"Everybody is very happy that the boy is playing" - Aakash Chopra lauds Ayush Mhatre's knock in CSK's IPL 2025 loss vs MI

Ayush Mhatre played an enterprising knock in CSK's IPL 2025 clash against MI. [P/C: iplt20.com]

Reflecting on CSK's batting in Sunday's game, Aakash Chopra praised Ayush Mhatre (32 off 15) for playing a pleasing knock.

"Ayush Mhatre is otherwise a Mumbai boy, but was playing for Chennai. He plays extremely well. He is a 17-year-old kid. His grandfather had started dreaming when he was six years old. His parents used to scold his grandfather that he would spoil his studies. Now, everybody is very happy that the boy is playing," he said in the same video.

The cricketer-turned-commentator highlighted that the youngster played a few classy shots during his innings.

"How well he plays. He is actually Vaibhav Suryavanshi's under-19 opening partner, and the guy has the might. As long as he played, he played class. He pulled the short ball straight. He is a proper, proper batter," Chopra observed.

Aakash Chopra noted that Ravindra Jadeja (53* off 35) and Shivam Dube (50 off 32) scoring runs was good news for CSK. However, he added that a total close to 175 was never going to be enough.