Former Indian cricket team spinner Murali Kartik believes that Chennai Super Kings have reached their lowest point following the loss against Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday. With five losses in six matches, CSK are ninth in the competition and their flop show has resulted in a lot of criticism from both experts as well as fans. Following the humiliating loss against KKR, Kartik urged the five-time champions to ‘collectively dig in’ and try to reverse the situation. The former India star also referenced RCB’s run in IPL 2024 where they won six matches on the trot after a shocking start to their season.

“You can only come upwards from here. You cannot go any lower. It feels like they have reached patal lok (hell). The way this season has gone, you think that this is now my team and what I can do with it. The more you can collectively dig deep from here, the more you can reverse the situation like RCB did last year. They said that let us have a deep look at ourselves and they won six matches on the bounce. I think there is still hope and till you have thrown in the towel, there is still hope,” he said on Cricbuzz.

A disappointed Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni on Friday blamed his batters for the heavy defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders and urged them to avoid desperation and instead focus on better application to arrest the slide in the upcoming IPL matches.

CSK were restricted to 103 for nine, as KKR chased down the target in just 10.1 overs, handing the five-time champions their biggest defeat in IPL history in terms of balls remaining.

“It has been quite a few nights that has not gone our way. The challenge has been there, we have to accept the challenge. Today I felt we did not have enough runs on the board,” Dhoni said.

“It has been the case over here (Chepauk), when we bowled in the 2nd innings it stopped a bit, today it did in the first innings. When you lose too many wickets, there is pressure and with quality spinners it is difficult.” It was yet another dismal batting performance by the five-time champions, who were completely dismantled by a clinical KKR side, as CSK slumped to their fifth straight loss of the season.

(With PTI inputs)