Former India opener Virender Sehwag has taken a dig at Chennai Super Kings, after the team’s sticky start to the IPL campaign, saying that some of their batsmen think of the franchise as a “government job” where remuneration is assured irrespective of performance.

CSK have registered four defeats in their first six matches.

On Wednesday, chasing 168 against Kolkata Knight Riders, veteran opener Shane Watson struck his second successive fifty to give the Chennai side a perfect start on Wednesday, but the team choked at the back end of the innings and was restricted to 157/5 from their 20 overs.

“It should have been chased down. But the dot balls played by Kedar Jadhav and Ravindra Jadeja didn’t help,” Sehwag told ‘Cricbuzz’.

“And, in my view, some of the Chennai Super Kings batsmen think of CSK as a government job, whether you perform or not, they know they’ll get their salary anyway,” the 41-year-old added.

In the period between 11-14 overs, CSK added just 14 runs and lost both Watson and an in-form Ambati Rayudu. Sent ahead of West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, Kedar Jadhav laboured to seven off 12 balls as KKR won the game by 10 runs.

However, this is not the first instance when the batting unit has let the team down. Last week, the MS Dhoni-led side lost a closely fought match to Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven runs after a top-order collapse.

Earlier, there had been criticisms that the team lacks young blood and had been stuffed with senior players.

The three-time champions are placed sixth in the eight-team standings and will face Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore on Saturday.