Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain Ruturaj Gaikwad led the team to a comfortable seven-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at home. Gaikwad shrugged off poor form to score his maiden half-century as CSK captain. After the win, Gaikwad said that he doesn't need to tell anyone about what to do on the field. He also said that former skipper MS Dhoni and head coach Stephen Fleming are still taking the shots in the early stage of his CSK captaincy career.
“With this team, I don't really need to tell things to anyone. Everyone's in a great head space, Mahi bhai and Fleming are still around to take those calls,” the CSK opener said in the post-match presentation.
Gaikwad got nostalgic as well as he finished the match with Dhoni on the other end. He lauded 'Player of the match' Ravindra Jadeja and the important of batting through in the run chase.
“Bit of nostalgia for me. My first IPL fifty, Mahi bhai was with me to finish the match. With Jinx injured, onus was on me to bat through, didn't want to put the youngsters in a difficult situation. Was a 150-160 wicket. Jaddu always comes in after the power play with momentum in the spin department,” said the 27-year-old.
Gaikwad didn’t feel he played a slow knock
Gaikwad remained unbeaten on 67 off 58 balls in the run chase of 138. He hit nine fours but his strike rate was 115.52 on a wicket which wasn’t a batting paradise. He felt he did not get off to a slow start and experts can talk about his strike rate.
“I wouldn't say mine is a slow start, in T20s there are times you nick off one or two balls, sometimes you need a bit of luck to get going, maybe something for experts to talk about, with my strike rate (laughs),” he concluded.
With their third win from five games, CSK are placed fourth on the points table. They will now go up against Hardik Pandya-led Mumbai Indians (MI) on April 14 at Wankhede Stadium.
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