Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad was a happy man on Monday after getting back to winning ways against high-flying Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2024. Ruturaj led from the front with an unbeaten half-century as they brought up the victory with more than two overs to spare. After the match, Ruturaj talked about various things ranging from the Chennai pitch to his brand of captaincy.
CSK hardly put a foot wrong in the match at the Chepauk Stadium on Monday. The Chennai bowlers were spot on in their approach and length as they were able to restrict KKR for just 137 runs. Gaikwad then scored an unbeaten 67 runs to hand the Knights their first defeat of the season.
Sticky wicket
Ruturaj after the match said the behaviour of the wicket in Chennai took everyone by surprise.
“Looking at the wicket, nobody anticipated that the wicket would be sticky. It was only after Jadeja’s first over that we got to know that it would be on the stickier side. So I thought of introducing spin from both ends. KKR’s batters like to take the game on and I figured if we got 2-3 wickets in a span of 3-4 overs, we can take the game to the opposition. I felt that not only Fizz (Mustafizur Rehman) but Tushar and Shardul too adapted to the wicket,” Ruturaj said.
Not trying to do anything different: Gaikwad
Gaikwad also revealed that he is not trying to do anything different as a captain but is trying to keep the culture of CSK intact.
“As a captain, I’m not a specific kind of character. I just like to go with flow. I want to keep the culture of the CSK going, that’s it. The success we’ve had, the things we’ve been doing, I don’t want to change it,” he said.
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‘I was prepared for leadership’
Ruturaj also spoke about the conversations he has had and still have with MS Dhoni, adding that he has been preparing for this role since two years.
“We (me and MS Dhoni) do not have deep conversations. We are just chilled, and talk about various aspects of the game. For people on the outside, it looks like I’ve got big shoes to fill, but I would always like to be myself. In 2022, Dhoni had told me that ‘You might get a chance to lead CSK in 2024, be ready for it’. So it did not come as a surprise to me when it came my way. In the previous season, me and Stephen Fleming had one-on-one conversations after every game, so that was a nice build up,” he said.
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