Chennai Super Kings took a hard hit in their playoff hopes after losing to Lucknow Super Giants by seven wickets in Lucknow on Friday. Ruturaj Gaikwad’s squad looked shaky. Akash Singh grabbed three wickets against his former team, and Kartik Sharma hammered a quick half-century to push CSK to 187 for 5 in their 20 overs. But then Mitchell Marsh showed up and smashed 90 off just 38 balls. Josh Inglis chipped in with 36 runs, making the chase look easy as Lucknow finished the job with over three overs left.
Now, CSK has slipped to sixth in the points table. They’re tied with Rajasthan Royals at 12 points, but their net run rate knocked them down another spot.
To have any shot at the playoffs, CSK has to beat both Sunrisers Hyderabad and Gujarat Titans. If they do, they’ll collect 16 points from 14 matches. That should lock them in for the Top 4—unless the messy math of the season gets in the way. There are five teams who could hit 16 points or more, so things could get dicey.
If CSK only manages to win one of those last two matches, they’ll be stuck at 14 points. Honestly, that’s nowhere near enough, and they’ll have to cross their fingers for other teams to slip up and hope their NRR saves them.
Lucknow Super Giants, on the other hand, were already out of the playoff race. So, all the pressure is on CSK now.
After the loss, Gaikwad shared his thoughts. He said, “First challenge is just getting back to Chennai. It’s a long flight. After that, we need to focus on fixing what’s not working—come back, improve, and try to read the conditions fast. It’s pretty simple for us now: win every game left, however many there are. Nothing complicated, really. Just play well, make sure whoever’s having a good day makes it count, and hopefully we turn things around.”
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