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Veteran India and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has expressed deep concern over the batting-friendly pitches in IPL 2025, saying that bowlers might soon need personal psychologists to cope with the challenge.
With flat wickets across all home venues and the Impact Player rule favoring aggressive batting, bowlers have found it increasingly difficult to contain batters. The trend has continued from IPL 2024, which saw record-breaking numbers in runs, strike rates, and batting averages.
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Ashwin’s Bold Take on Flat Wickets
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin responded to a discussion with analyst Prasanna Agoram, stating that bowling in IPL 2025 has become so difficult that even full-tosses are now considered a better defensive option than pitching the ball.
🗣️ “You said bowlers are becoming defensive. I think bowlers will soon have to be accompanied by personal psychologists. I genuinely mean that.”
🗣️ “On certain grounds, you can’t keep the stumps in play. Full tosses, which were once seen as easy to hit, are now sometimes more effective than pitching the ball because the surface is so good for batting. Look at Chahal—he bowled full tosses to Sai Sudharsan and got away with just singles,” Ashwin explained.
Batting-Friendly IPL: A Growing Concern
- Three of the first five IPL 2025 matches have seen both teams scoring over 200 runs.
- Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) almost matched their record-high total in their first game of the season.
- The Impact Player rule has made teams even more aggressive, making life harder for bowlers.
CSK and Ashwin’s Season So Far
Ashwin, who returned to CSK this season, is playing for the franchise that enjoys one of the rare bowling-friendly venues—Chepauk, Chennai. CSK successfully defended 156 runs in their season opener against Mumbai Indians, and they are set to host Royal Challengers Bengaluru on March 28.
While Chepauk offers some help for bowlers, the conditions in other venues across India have made bowling a nightmare. Will the bowlers find a way to fight back, or is IPL becoming an all-out batting fest? Share your thoughts!
