IPL 2025 KKR vs CSK | KKR players should not focus on the crowd’s Dhoni craze: coach Pandit

Kolkata Knight Riders coach urges players to focus on their game despite support for Chennai Super Kings and Dhoni.

Kolkata Knight Riders head coach Chandrakant Pandit wants his players to focus on their own game in the event of the spectators rooting for visiting Chennai Super Kings and its iconic skipper M.S. Dhoni in their IPL match at the Eden Gardens here on Wednesday.

“During these kinds of matches (when the support is for a star cricketer of the opposition), every player and every team always focuses on their own game,” said Pandit on Tuesday.

“There is so much noise around. If you ask that batter, he will probably say that he didn’t hear anything. Sometimes, we just ignore that noise automatically.”

Pandit said his team, which is much more confident now after two consecutive wins, should take it one match at a time instead of worrying about the future.

“You always have to be optimistic. We always believe that we have the best batting line-up. It is unfortunate it didn’t click in the initial matches,” said Pandit.

Even though Dhoni skipped CSK’s practice session for the second consecutive day, the visiting team’s bowling coach Eric Simons said the captain is expected to play on Wednesday.

Simons said his side, though already out of the play-offs race, was not just going through the motions and was working on different areas of the game while completing its remaining engagements.