"You’re more involved..." - Ruturaj Gaikwad reveals impact of CSK captaincy on his career

Young India batter Ruturaj Gaikwad reckons that leading Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL) has changed his batting approach. Gaikwad led Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2024 as MS Dhoni gave up the captaincy this year to allow Gaikwad to take over.

Under Gaikwad, CSK had a disappointing season although, a lot of injury and unavailability issues in the squad also added to his woes. CSK just missed the playoffs as they finished fifth in the points table with 7 wins and 7 defeats. They had similar points to Royal Challengers Bengaluru but missed out because of a poor net run rate.

Although they had an inconsistent season, skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad shone with the bat and finished as the second-highest run-scorer of the season with 583 runs in 14 innings at an average of 53. The right-hander had a slow start to the season as he failed to get big scores in the first few matches. But he soon found his range and became an unstoppable force.

Also read: Not Ruturaj Gaikwad! This star player is India's vice-captain in Zimbabwe T20Is

Ruturaj Gaikwad credits IPL captaincy for the change in batting approach

In a video released by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Ruturaj Gaikwad spoke about the things that have changed since leading Chennai Super Kings in the IPL this year. He stated that only his mindset has changed and he is batting with more responsibility now.

“Actually nothing much has changed, the batting has been the same. It’s all about playing with responsibility and finishing it by my own so nothing has changed. It’s just that the way you look at the game every time," Gaikwad said in the video.

Gaikwad also felt that he feels more involved in the game since he has led an IPL franchise now. He added that he is just focusing on one ball at a time.

"You’re more involved now in the game since you’ve captained an IPL franchise for a long period of time. So, you tend to be in the game for a longer period of time instead of just staying in the boundary outside and just focussing on one ball. As I said, it has not made much difference,” Gaikwad added.

Gaikwad has an excellent record in IPL

Gaikwad has an excellent record in the IPL, He has played 66 matches so far and scored 2380 runs at an average of 41.75 and a strike rate of 136.86. He has hit 2 centuries and 18 half-centuries in his IPL career so far.

Ruturaj Gaikwad is currently playing in the T20I series against Zimbabwe. He is looking in great touch in the series and scored an unbeaten 77 off 47 balls in the second T20I. Alongside Abhishek Sharma, Gaikwad stitched an excellent partnership of 137 runs for the second wicket and helped India get to a mammoth score of 234-2 in 20 overs. The series is currently level 1-1 with the third T20I ongoing at Harare right now.