Chennai Super Kings found themselves in some trouble early on in New Delhi as they faced Rajasthan Royals in match 62 of the Indian Premier League 2025.
After being asked to bat first, opener Devon Conway and Urvil Patel were sent back to the hut by Yudhvir Singh in under two overs with only 12 runs on the board.
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However, to everyone's surprise, the Super Kings sent R Ashwin at 4 to bat alongside Ayush Mhatre, who was just 2*(2) after the first two overs.
He was followed by his spin bowling partner, Ravindra Jadeja, at 5, raising more eyebrows that included Dale Steyn, who openly questioned this tactic. See what he had to say.
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"Math is not mathing"- Dale Steyn takes a dig at CSK think tank:
The former fast bowler took to Twitter (X) when he saw Jadeja walking in to partner Ashwin in the middle against the Royals and thought the tactics made no sense, especially when MS Dhoni and Shivam Dube were still sitting in the dugout.
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"CSK 3 down and they send 2 bowlers to bat. Sometimes I feel their math is not mathing," wrote the Protea.
See the tweet below:
CSK 3 down and they send 2 bowlers to bat.
— Dale Steyn (@DaleSteyn62) May 20, 2025
Sometimes I feel their math is not mathing.
How did Jadeja and Ashwin perform with the bat vs RR?
Ashwin started well to complement Mhatre with a four and a delicious six on a flick off the pads; however, he only managed to get 13 from 7 balls as he was sent back by Wanindu Hasaranga—caught by Shimron Hetmyer at the deep midwicket.
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Jadeja, on the other hand, did not trouble the scorers much and only added 1(5) before he flicked Yudhvir Singh straight to Dhruv Jurel on the midwicket.
Notably, Jadeja has been batting in the top 4 or 5 consistently in the 2025 season and scored 280 runs in 11 matches with a highest of an unbeaten 77.