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The post-match remarks made by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain Ruturaj Gaikwad following his team's defeat against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the IPL 2025 clash is beyond everyone's comprehension. RCB crushed CSK by 50 runs to end their 17-year-long losing streak against them at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. RCB's last victory at the Chepauk stadium against CSK came in the inaugural edition of the IPL back in 2008. CSK failed to chase down the 197-run target and were restricted to just 147/8. This was also CSK's biggest home defeat in the IPL history.
Ruturaj Gaikwad's bizarre remark after CSK's defeat against RCB
However, following his team's crushing defeat, Ruturaj Gaikwad made a rather unusual statement during his post-match presentation. He surprisingly expressed his happiness that his team's defeat wasn't by a larger margin, but rather limited to 50 runs.
"To be honest, I still feel 170 was a par score on this wicket. It wasn't that great to bat. Bad day in the fielding cost us really badly. At the end of the day, when you are chasing 170, you bat differently. You have little bit time when you go in to bat. When you're chasing 20 runs extra on a wicket where you know it's going to be a little bit sticky and it's going to stop after the ball gets old, you have to bat slightly differently in the powerplay. It got a little bit slower and sticky," Ruturaj Gaikwad said at the post-match presentation.
"The new ball was sticking a lot until the five overs, don't really know how it happened. Rahul backed his shot, I went and backed my shot, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. There are times where you have a par score in your mind and probably when you're chasing 20 runs extra, you always want to be a step ahead of the game. That's what the thinking was, didn't really work out. Still happy that we didn't lose by a big margin and at the end it was just 50 runs," he added.
Gaikwad also pointed out that RCB batters effectively maintained their scoring momentum throughout their innings. He specifically lauded Tim David who orchestrated a strong finish for RCB in the final over with a lighting 8-ball 22.
"Definitely a different scenario when you have three world-class spinners in your team, you want the new batters to face them. That's where the game changes a lot. They just kept going, we dropped catches at crucial times and then there was always an extra six or extra boundary that was coming after that. The momentum kept going and didn't stop till the final over. There's a long flight to Guwahati, we have to turn up mentally. We're going to have bad day in batting and bowling in a tournament like IPL but I feel the fielding has to improve a lot and we should come back stronger in the fielding department," Ruturaj concluded.
CSK will next face Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Guwahati on March 30, while RCB will take on Gujarat Titans (GT) on April 2 in their upcoming IPL 2025 clash.
