Chennai Super Kings He faced his fifth defeat in 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) was eliminated after losing on Wednesday (May 1) punjab kings By seven wickets. A major reason behind the defeat was losing the toss, given that dew in Chepauk played its part by facilitating run-scoring in the second innings, in which Chennai was bowling. This is now becoming a matter of concern for captain Ruturaj Gaikwad.
Interestingly, despite practicing coin tossing during training sessions, Gaikwad has lost all his last five tosses. After the match he revealed how he was more concerned about the toss than his batting:
I have practiced the toss a lot. I am winning in practice, but not in matches. I am not sure what to do. I am really under pressure at the time of the toss, not at the time of the game. It is very difficult with dew. Even in the last game we were quite surprised that we would win by such a margin. Dew is something we cannot control.
Ruturaj Gaikwad
Asked to bat first by Punjab captain Sam Curran, Chennai could only manage a modest score of 162/7, which Punjab needed 17.5 overs to achieve. Describing his team’s batting performance, Gaikwad said:
To be honest, we were probably 50-60 runs behind. When we were batting first the pitch was not good. In the last 2 matches we tried our best to achieve a score of 200-210. Today the pitch was not good enough to reach even 180.
Ruturaj Gaikwad
Apart from the toss and ineffective batting performance, what worked against Chennai was the unavailability of key fast bowlers. Mathisha Pathirana, who bowled the death overs for Chennai, was in trouble while Tushar Deshpande, who is usually entrusted with the responsibility of taking early wickets, was unwell. Gaikwad’s problems were further compounded, with Deepak Chahar able to bowl only two balls before getting injured.
Speaking about the long list of absentees, Gaikwad said:
This is a real problem. There are phases when you want to get wickets and you only have two bowlers. Also, due to dew, the question of spinners does not arise. But there are still four matches left and we will try to get back to winning ways.
Ruturaj Gaikwad
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