Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have bought Devon Conway and Vanshi Bedi as wicketkeeper batters at the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 auction. Of course, they have MS Dhoni as well, who’s expected to keep the wickets in the coming edition. Despite knowing all this, Ruturaj Gaikwad might be thinking about trying himself as their man behind the stumps. Well, that’s taking it too far, I guess.
Ruturaj Gaikwad, new CSK wicketkeeper?
For some reason, the CSK captain, who’s leading Maharashtra in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) 2024-25, was wicketkeeping against Goa. Earlier in the game, Gaikwad had decided that he’d bat at number 7, giving the other batters a chance to bat. While defending 194, it was he who took the gloves instead of Nikhil Naik, Maharashtra’s designated wicketkeeper.
Whether Ruturaj Gaikwad did it just for kicks can’t be known now. From what can be gathered, Naik wasn’t injured either. For the unaware, it isn’t the first time Gaikwad has taken the gloves for Maharashtra; he kept wickets in the Maharashtra Premier League earlier in the year and has done so in SMAT twice (2023 and 2022). He did well behind the stumps as well against Goa. In the first over of the second innings, he took two catches as Maharashtra marched towards victory.
CSK squad for IPL 2025
Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Matheesha Pathirana ✈️, MS Dhoni (wk), Devon Conway (wk)✈️, Rahul Tripathi, Rachin Ravindra ✈️, Ravichandran Ashwin, Khaleel Ahmed, Noor Ahmad ✈️, Vijay Shankar, Sam Curran ✈️, Shaik Rasheed, Anshul Kamboj, Mukesh Choudhary, Deepak Hooda, Gurjapneet Singh, Nathan Ellis ✈️, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Shreyas Gopal, Vansh Bedi (wk), Andre Siddharth, Jamie Overton ✈️
