Chennai Super Kings' batter Ruturaj Gaikwad plays a shot during the IPL 2024 cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals.
Credit: PTI Photo
Chennai: Two-paced Chepauk strip where spinners always come into play has been Chennai Super Kings' 17-year template and current skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad finds no reason to deviate from that after a five-wicket victory over Rajasthan Royals in a low-scoring IPL encounter.
While CSK would still need to win their final away game and seal the play-off berth with 16 points and a healthy positive net run-rate, Gaikwad termed it a 'wonderful feeling' to cap off the league engagements at home with a comfortable win.
"Definitely we would love to play on such wickets. It brings our spinners into play and with huge boundaries, there is an amount of risk to hit sixes," the astute young captain said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Taking the pace off deliveries always creates problems and Royals struggled to score posting a below-par total of 141 for five in 20 overs.
"That is always the plan whenever you come here. Sometimes, the wicket is flatter and we go to the yorkers. When the wicket is slow and you have a bigger side, you want to take the pace off," he explained.
Gaikwad dropped anchor and batted till the end, scoring an unbeaten 42 off 41 deliveries but that was the need of the hour.
"As a team, we have stroke-players so my job was to stay there till the end," Gaikwad spoke about his role.
He did feel that their Powerplay score made it easy despite losing a few wickets in the middle overs.
"When we were 55-1, I felt we were cruising. One or two wickets can allow the opposition to get back. Generally, I thought we were cruising and there was no pressure until the end."
Man of the match Simarjeet Singh, who had been out of action for more than a year before this IPL, thanked CSK management for taking good care of him.
"I am very thankful to the CSK management, the physio and my trainer to treat me the way they did when I was injured. It is a blessing." Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson feels that it is very difficult to predict the kind of track that will be on offer in away games but he also understands that with peak summer approaching, the tracks will have wear and tear and get slower.
"We are not really sure what to expect from away games. We thought batting first was the better option," Samson said on his part.
"They had a better idea of what to chase being used to playing here, we thought it would have been slower in the second innings, but the wicket was instead better."
"When you play at night chasing is a no brainer due to the dew. The pitch gets heated up during summers so I expected the wicket to slow down in the second innings."
RR are on 16 points and with two games left, there is a very good chance of them finishing in top two with two shots at a place in the play-offs.