Chennai Super Kings (CSK) started off their title defense in a grand fashion as they completely outplayed the mighty Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). For CSK, it was the start of the new era as MS Dhoni handed over the captaincy to Ruturaj Gaikwad. Ruturaj Gaikwad though couldn’t make an impact as a batter but stood tall with the bowlers in tricky phases of the match.
CSK’s next challenge is against the finalists of IPL 2023 which is none-other than Gujarat Titans (GT) on 26th March 2024 at Chepauk. Both the sides have new skippers as Hardik Pandya left GT and was traded to MI in the transfer window and Shubman Gill has been named as the new skipper in charge. The two teams have a riveting rivalry as we can expect a cracker of a contest on the upcoming Tuesday.
The captaincy of Ruturaj Gaikwad was most impressive- Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar was having an interaction with the media. Sunil Gavaskar was quite impressed with the way Ruturaj Gaikwad led CSK. Sunil Gavaskar pointed out that the way Ruturaj Gaikwad marshalled his troops was terrific and said that he showed faith in Tushar Deshpande despite being taken to the cleaners.
“Your debut as a captain becomes very important. You want to begin your captaincy career well with a win and that’s exactly what happened. What was impressive was his bowling changes. Because when you saw the way he kept on changing Mustafizur; the way he used Mustafizur was absolutely terrific,”
“He kept swapping Deepak Chahar, keeping faith in Tushar Deshpande for that final over. I think seeing that Tushar Deshpande had been taken for 25, there was an opportunity to use another bowler, but he still stuck to Tushar Deshpande, and Deshpande responded with a brilliant final over. So, yes, I think the captaincy was most impressive,”
One dimensional tactic from RCB was really disappointing- Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar was quite dejected with the way the likes of Joseph, Green, Siraj & co operated as the short ball barrage tactic wasn’t that successful. Sunil Gavaskar stated that the bouncers from RCB’s bowlers weren’t that accurate which hurt the team massively.
“And we see over here, he has, of course, MS Dhoni around him, to guide him, tell him and give him the encouragement. Sometimes, that little nod from somebody as experienced and as accomplished as MSD, makes a big difference. Yes, try the short ball by all means, but when it wasn’t working … it looked like that’s all they were looking to do. You had somebody like a Dagar, who had bowled 2 overs for 6 six runs. I know the way the left-hand spinner can be picked for 6, but you got to take a chance,” said Sunil Gavaskar.
“All that they did, Joseph, Green, Siraj, everybody go in short. What was happening was that if you don’t get the bouncer right, you are going to give it a wide, which means you’re giving an extra run, you are going to bowl an extra delivery. So, your bouncer has to be very accurate, and it wasn’t. That one-dimensional tactic was really disappointing,” he added.