Chennai Super Kings will face a headache in deciding their number three batter in IPL 2025. Two players are perfect fit for that role – New Zealand’s Rachin Ravindra and IPL veteran Rahul Tripathi. The two batters are likely to battle it out, with high possibility of only one of them making it to the playing XI. CSK will commence their campaign on March 23 by taking on Mumbai Indians in Chepauk, Chennai.
Rachin or Rahul, who will be CSK’s no.3?
Rachin was promoted to the role of an opener in the absence of Devon Conway in IPL 2024. Now that the latter is injury free and was bought back by CSK, it is likely that he will resume his role as an opener along with Ruturaj Gaikwad. This would mean that Ravindra would be forced to play at number three.
Rachin had an interesting debut season in 2024. He managed to amass 222 runs from 10 matches, averaging only 22.20. Despite having just one half-century in the entire season, he impressed with his ability to fire at will.
| Mat | Runs | HS | Avg | SR | 50 | 4s | 6s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 222 | 61 | 22.20 | 160.87 | 1 | 22 | 12 |
Additionally, he has grown leaps and bounds across formats of the games since IPL 2024, emerging as one of the best New Zealand batters in the recent times. In the recently concluded Champions Trophy, he hammered two centuries, including one in the semi-final against South Africa.
CSK did not opt to bid for veteran Ajinkya Rahane at the mega auction. Instead, they went after another old guard who has been closely associated with MS Dhoni in the past. The five-time champs bagged seasoned veteran Rahul Tripathi for Rs 3.4 crore, making him more or less a like-for-like replacement for Rahane.
Tripathi has the potential to be CSK’s new number three batter. With 2236 runs to his name in IPL, Rahul is no stranger to batting in the top-order and has often anchored the innings for the teams he has been a part of in the past.
| Player | Matches | Runs | Average | Strike Rate |
| Rahul Tripathi | 95 | 2236 | 27.27 | 139.31 |
