Ruturaj Gaikwad: CSK's 'Arjuna' who refuses to attack
Chennai Super Kings were 52 for two after the fifth over and Eshan Malinga came to bowl the last over of the powerplay. CSK needed to accelerate to put pressure on Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and they needed their captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, who was on 5 off 7 balls to shift gears. Instead, Gaikwad slowed things down further.
Facing four deliveries in the over, the CSK skipper took three singles. After racing to 43/1 in the first three overs, CSK looked set for a 70-odd runs powerplay but the Men-in-Yellow managed only 14 runs and lost one wicket in the next three overs to finish the powerplay at 57/2. At the end of six overs, Gaikwad was on 9 off 11 balls, scoring at a strike rate of 81.
82. The innings was not an isolated case but it has been a pattern in IPL 2026. Among all batters who have faced at least 100 balls in the powerplay this season, Gaikwad has the lowest strike rate — 124.
6. For comparison, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has scored at 244. 51 and Abhishek Sharma at 228.
87. While the rest of the openers in the league are scoring at the speed of a bullet train, Gaikwad still seems to be resting in the steam-engine era, perhaps unaware that the game around him has changed. While speaking to broadcasters during the 10th over of CSK’s innings, their head coach Stephen Fleming argued, "I know it sounds old school, but we need one guy who bats through the innings.