IPL 2026: 'I hate to ... ': Captain Ruturaj Gaikwad's blunt verdict after Chennai Super Kings loss
Ruturaj Gaikwad expressed disappointment after Chennai Super Kings' eight-wicket loss to Gujarat Titans. Despite his unbeaten 74, CSK struggled to adapt to inconsistent bounce, falling short of a higher total. Gaikwad highlighted the difficulty in assessing the pitch and the impact of losing wickets at crucial junctures, preventing them from reaching a more competitive score.
NEW DELHI: The disappointment was clearly visible on Ruturaj Gaikwad’s face after Chennai Super Kings slumped to an eight-wicket defeat against Gujarat Titans at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday. Leading from the front, Gaikwad played a lone hand with a gritty unbeaten 74, helping CSK post a competitive 158/7 against GT. In response, a fluent half-century from Sai Sudharsan, along with important contributions from Shubman Gill and Jos Buttler, powered Gujarat Titans to a comfortable win with eight wickets in hand.
GT executed a clinical chase, with their top three - Sai, Gill and Buttler - doing the bulk of the scoring. The victory marked their fourth of the season, lifting them to fifth place on the points table. — IPL (@IPL) "Yes, to be honest, sometimes i hate to assess in that way, but I felt it was challenging.
I was holding a bit for the pacers; the pace was inconsistent, and the bounce was up and down. But if we hadn't lost too many wickets, we could've reached 170-180. Not expected to be honest, it's tough to assess the conditions here," Gaikwad said after the match.
"In the last three matches, we learned how the game would play out. We had a 60-70% chance in the last two three games, but we didn't expect it to play like this today. We just couldn't adapt to the conditions.