Chennai: Not a single time did he feel the burden of captaincy, said Chennai Super Kings’ newly-appointed skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad after the defending champions started their IPL 2024 campaign with a six-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore on Friday at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. The 27-year-old was handed the captaincy by Dhoni on Thursday, a move that was on the cards.
Starting from the toss till the end of the match, Gaikwad held his composure in the right way and not even once looked to be under pressure, just like Dhoni who led the franchise from 2008 to 2023. “I have always enjoyed it (captaincy). Haven’t felt the additional pressure, right from the state side.
“Not even a single time I felt pressurized by anything. Obviously, had Mahi bhai with me,” Gaikwad said at the post-match presentation ceremony. Batting first, RCB started on a good not with skipper Faf du Plessis hitting from the word go. However, Mustafizur Rahman pulled the brakes with four wickets in his first two overs – two wickets in each over.
Gaikwad felt the dismissals of Du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell were the turning point of the game. “To get Maxwell and even Faf out, the quick wickets were the turning point. Helps to control the next five-six overs. That was the main point,” he added. Deepak Chahar got the wicket of Maxwell.
With RCB reeling at 78/5, everyone thought, CSK would be able to restrict them to a below-par totals. But Anuj Rawat and Dinesh Karthik had different plans as the duo added 95 runs for the sixth wicket to take the team to 173/6.
An Anbuden Classic
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— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) March 22, 2024
In reply, CSK rode on knocks from debutant Rachin Ravindra (37 off 15), seasoned Ajinkya Rahane (27 off 19), Shivam Dube (34 not out off 28) and Ravindra Jadeja (25 not out off 17) to romp home in 18.4 overs. Asked about the chase, Gaikwad said everyone has their role clarity.
“Everyone is a stroke-player in our side, even Jinx. There is role clarity in the batting unit. Helps a lot. Lots of positive, but two-three things to work on. The batting, everyone chipped in. If we had a few batters from the top-order batting through, the chase would have been easier,” he added.
On the other hand, Du Plessis admitted they were 15-20 runs short. “Chennai are a very good team in the middle overs, they squeeze you with their spinners. Maybe we were about 15-20 runs short, the pitch wasn’t as bad as we played in the first 10 overs,” said the former South African international.
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