"We are saying 'Abki baar 300 paar', but they are saying 'wait'" - Aakash Chopra on CSK's template in IPL 2025 win vs MI

Former India player Aakash Chopra has lauded the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for strangulating the Mumbai Indians (MI) batters in their IPL 2025 clash on a sluggish pitch. He opined that Ruturaj Gaikwad and company have formulated the template for their home games this season.

CSK restricted MI to 155/9 after asking them to bat first in Chennai in the evening game on Sunday, March 23. The home team then achieved the target with four wickets and five deliveries to spare to start their IPL 2025 campaign with a win.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra', the former India opener reckoned that CSK's approach against MI revealed the template they would likely follow in IPL 2025.

"What do the Chennai Super Kings do? They shop as per their wish and then change things as per their shopping. What was the biggest thread I saw? Get ready for a very different template. The entire world is going to the moon and some people are thinking of going to Mars, we are saying 'Abki baar 300 paar', but they are saying 'wait'," Chopra said (13:15).

"They are saying they have spent almost ₹40 crore to acquire three spinners, so they would play on slow and sluggish pitches, that they would play a slightly retro style of T20 cricket. Going with three spinners on a slightly slowish sluggish pitch and trapping the opposing team with spin, I think this is the template we are looking at," he added.

The former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) player noted that Noor Ahmad's spell showed why CSK were extremely keen to acquire the former Gujarat Titans (GT) spinner at the mega auction.

"Noor Ahmad picked up four wickets. Tum aa gaye ho, Noor aa gaya hai. No one is able to understand him. They put so much money that the Gujarat Titans couldn't RTM him. They had made up their mind that they needed him at any cost, and it made a lot of sense," Chopra observed.

The Chennai Super Kings acquired Noor Ahmad for ₹10 crore at the IPL 2025 auction. The left-arm wrist spinner registered figures of 4/18 in four overs against the Mumbai Indians.

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"They got him for less than ₹5 crore" - Aakash Chopra lauds Khaleel Ahmed's spell in CSK's IPL 2025 win vs MI

Khaleel Ahmed registered figures of 3/29 in four overs in CSK's IPL 2025 win against MI. [P/C: iplt20.com]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra praised Khaleel Ahmed for striking the early blows and Ruturaj Gaikwad for leading the side well in Sunday's game.

"Khaleel at the start. They got him for less than ₹5 crore. They knew they needed Khaleel as left-arm pace is required. He dismissed both the openers - Rohit (Sharma) and Ryan Rickelton. Then (Ravichandran) Ashwin was introduced within the powerplay. Ruturaj captained extremely well," he said (14:40).

While appreciating the Chennai Super Kings bowlers for restricting the mighty Mumbai Indians batting lineup to an underwhelming total, the cricketer-turned-analyst lauded MS Dhoni for his lightning-quick stumping of Suryakumar Yadav.

"To not let Mumbai's batting reach 175, that just was brilliant from the Chennai Super Kings. Dhoni sahab - what do you do? 4G, 5G, but the fastest is Dhoni ji. The guy doesn't take his hands back. Suryakumar Yadav wouldn't have gotten out if it was some other keeper," Chopra observed.

MS Dhoni stumped Suryakumar Yadav (29 off 26) off Noor Ahmad's bowling. Tilak Varma (31 off 25) and Deepak Chahar (28* off 15) were the only other MI players to score more than 20 runs.