Ambati Rayudu Leaks CSK’s IPL 2025 Playing 11

The former middle-order batter of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Ambati Rayudu, has revealed the franchise’s probable playing eleven for the 2025 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The five-time champions failed to progress to the playoffs in the last season after their last group-stage defeat against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).

Rayudu has picked 10 players in the side, but is confused on the number four spot. He reckoned that the spot should belong to an Indian player, but he is not crystal clear whether it would be an Indian or a foreigner.

Ambati Rayudu keeps two foreigners in CSK’s top three

Rayudu opens the batting department of the franchise with the leaders Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway. The latter missed the previous edition of the tournament with a finger injury but will be eager to make an impact in the new season. Gaikwad, on the other hand, has already become CSK’s fourth leading run-getter with 2380 runs in 65 innings at a strike rate of 136.86, thanks to 18 fifties and two centuries.

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Rachin Ravindra will walk at number three for the side after nailing 222 runs in 2024 at a strike rate of 160.86 in 10 innings. Rayudu is not sure about the number four spot before putting Shivam Dube at number five. The southpaw is one of the reasons for the Kings’ success in the middle overs against the spinners.

In 39 innings, the Mumbai-born has clubbed 1103 IPL runs for CSK at a strike rate of 160, thanks to eight half-centuries. Ravindra Jadeja, the former captain and a long-time all-rounder of the franchise, is in the number six position.

Jadeja is the five-time champions’ seventh-highest run-getter with 2053 runs in 135 innings at a strike rate of 137.50 and will have a chance to go past Murli Vijay’s 2205 runs in the 2025 season of the event.

Ambati Rayudu has kept the wicket-keeper batter, MS Dhoni, at number seven in the playing eleven. The joint most successful captain of the side is the second-highest run-getter of the franchise with 5118 runs in 225 innings at an average of 39.06 and a strike rate of 139.45, thanks to 23 half-centuries at the best score of unbeaten 84 runs.

Ambati Rayudu backs experience in CSK’s lower middle order

Sam Curran and Ravichandran Ashwin will reunite with the franchise for the new season. The former is at the number eight position and will also provide the left-handed batter’s choice in the department.

Ashwin will be back in the side for the first time since 2015. The off-spinner is the franchise’s third-leading wicket-taker in the T20s, with 120 scalps in 118 innings at an average of nearly 24 and a strike rate of 21.35. He will also partner with Jadeja to make life hard for the opponent batters.

The left-arm spin all-rounder, Jadeja, is just 13 wickets away from becoming the franchise’s leading T20 wicket-taker. Rayudu has gone with Anshul Kamboj and Matheesha Pathirana as the two other bowlers in the playing eleven.

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Pathirana has picked up 34 wickets in 20 innings in the T20s at an average of 17.41 and an economy rate of below eight for CSK in the last three seasons. Their opening game will be against the Mumbai Indians at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on March 23.

Ambati Rayudu’s potential playing XI for CSK in IPL 2025

Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Indian batter/ spinner, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni, Sam Curran, Ravichandran Ashwin, Anshul Kamboj, Matheesha Pathirana.