Chennai Super Kings (CSK), the five-time champions, are back up and running in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season after two wins.
On Tuesday, CSK defeated the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 32 runs to move to four points from five games. The pieces are falling into place for CSK, but there remains one concern – the form of skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad. The right-handed batter has managed just 63 runs in five matches, with his highest score being 28 against the Punjab Kings.
Gaikwad even failed against KKR on Tuesday at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, returning with a score of just 7. The knives are already out for the CSK captain, with many asking Gaikwad to drop himself to No.3 and let Sanju Samson and Ayush Mhatre make the most of the powerplay.
During the chat at the post-match presentation, Gaikwad played down concerns around his form, saying he’s working hard and a big score is just around the corner.
“Firstly, think it’s good to be on the winning side after a long time. I felt it was getting into my head even when I was batting. But after the last game, I felt a bit relaxed, and I feel really good now. Just make sure I do whatever the team or the situation needs. I feel mentally really well, feeling positive. Just a big knock is just around the corner,” said Gaikwad.
“But as long as the other guys are just covering up for me, definitely I’ll do it when it’s needed. The Yellow Army will be supporting you all the way,” he added.
‘Feeling good’
The match between KKR and CSK saw the latter posting 192/5 on the board after Sanju Samson and Dewald Brevis played knocks of 48 and 41, respectively. Noor Ahmed then returned with figures of 3/21 as CSK registered a 32-run win over KKR.
Speaking about the win, Gaikwad said, “Feeling good, to be honest. I think we defended a good score again. I felt it was a par score, given that, the wicket drastically changed after the first, I would say, seven or eight overs. It started spinning a bit, then stopped a bit. So we were first looking at 220, 210, but then, we thought anything around 190, 180 would be a good score, and I think after that, we just had to get a good power play in bowling. After that, it was just about maintaining that run rate.”
However, despite the win, Gaikwad didn’t mince his words as he urged his team to do better in the fielding department. “We dropped everything that came, just took one or two, but still, I thought, I felt it was a bit okay. Today, so much sweat is coming into the hands. Not an excuse, but you definitely would like to improve,” he said.