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Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain Ruturaj Gaikwad has struggled for form in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. Gaikwad promoted himself up the order, ahead of young Ayush Mhatre but is yet to play an impactful knock. Against Delhi Capitals (DC), CSK ended their losing streak but Gaikwad departed after a sluggish 15 off 18 balls. Amid opener's struggles, former India opener Wasim Jaffer feels Gaikwad is too focused on registering big knocks and should look to get his team off to a terrific start.
"He's somebody who wants to score big. You know, being an opener, I don't think you need to look at [trying to get] 80 or 100 from the outset. I think you need to look at giving a terrific start, the kind of start the openers want," Jaffer said on ESPNcricinfo's TimeOut show.
"He's not somebody who is going at a 200-plus strike rate. If he's asked to push the scoring rate, I think he needs to take a lot more risk. He's got the game. He's got hundreds in the IPL. But he just, I feel, holds himself [back]."
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So far, Gaikwad has registered scores of 6, 28, 7 and 15 in IPL 2026. He has scored at a strike rate of 103.70. Also, he has managed to hit just one six from four appearances.
Gaikwad urged to follow Kohli
Jaffer wants Gaikwad to learn from Virat Kohli who has changed his game as per the requirements of the ever-so-evolving format. He feels that letting go off the thought of accumulating bulk of runs should help him.
"I just feel that, he plays with that tunnel vision of scoring big. We've seen [Virat] Kohli do that: change his game. He's a different Kohli to what we saw at the start of his career," Jaffer said.
"I am sure Ruturaj can do it [but] he needs to put the impact [first], not think about bulk of runs."
Gaikwad’s dipping IPL numbers and overall record
Gaikwad had suffered an injury during IPL 2025 and was ruled out. He had a good IPL 2024 season despite CSK not making it to the playoffs. From 14 innings, he scored 583 runs at an average of 53 and strike rate of 141.16, featuring a century and four fifties.
Overall, he has played 75 games for CSK, scoring 2,558 runs at an average of 38.75 and strike rate of 136.49. He has two centuries and 20 fifties to his name. He has had three 500-plus runs seasons in his IPL career for CSK.
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