India, March 15 -- Chennai Super Kings did not stumble through IPL 2025 because one department had an off year. The deeper problem was that their campaign looked under control with the bat. CSK finished with only 4 wins in 14 matches, and the batting profile is the clearest explanation: their overall run rate was around 8.80, the lowest in the league, while their batting average was around 26.25, the second-lowest. That is the profile of a side that kept handing the game away in phases rather than dictating them.

The 2026 squad build suggests CSK recognised exactly that. They retained 16 players with INR 43.40 crore left, brought in Sanju Samson through a trade, and then used the auction to spend INR 41 crore to restructure their DNA. Th...