Former Indian captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth has once again come out criticizing the captain of Chennai Super Kings. Ruturaj Gaikwad. Srikkanth’s comments came after CSK’s defeat to Lucknow Supergiants in Lucknow on Friday.
After this defeat, CSK now need to win both their remaining league stage matches with a good net run rate to avoid a league stage exit for the third consecutive IPL season.
Mitchell Marsh’s near-century puts CSK on the brink of elimination
Lucknow Super Giants are already out of the race for the playoffs in IPL 2026, and on Friday, they were basically a team with nothing to lose.
Left-arm fast bowler Akash Singh, playing his first match this season, dismissed each of CSK’s top three batsmen within the first eight overs. Karthik Sharma and dewald brevis 70 runs were added for the fourth wicket and Sharma completed his half-century before being out on 71 runs.
Shivam Dubey and Prashant Veer came together in the last four overs, but it was not until the last over, in which 23 runs were scored, that they could make any impact.
Mitchell Marsh single-handedly took the lead in chasing the target of 187 runs. He made excellent use of the fielding restrictions to score a half-century in 21 balls within the powerplay. He was particularly severe on Anshul Kamboj, giving away 28 runs to the Haryana bowler in the fifth over, which included four sixes in a row.
Josh Inglis was unusually slow, but played an excellent second innings for Marsh as the two Australians added 135 runs for the first wicket. Unfortunately, both of them were out in the twelfth over while chasing the target.
English hid Mukesh Chaudhary. On the very next ball, Marsh was run out while backing too much at the non-striker’s end and was out after scoring 90 runs in 38 balls.
By then all the damage had been done. When LSG needed 24 runs from 24 balls, Kamboj was brought back to bowl and Nicholas Pooran hit four consecutive sixes off him to give LSG a consolation win.
Also read: Has Anshul Kamboj become the worst bowler in IPL history? This shocking statistic proves that
“Ruturaj Gaikwad has been ordinary all season” – Kris Srikkanth
Chris Srikkanth once again took to his YouTube channel and this time criticized CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad.
Srikkanth included Gaikwad and his opening partner, sanju samsonFor failing to provide any solid start as a pair. He also criticized their poor performance against LSG on Friday.
“There was not a single extraordinary partnership between Sanju and Ruturaj in the entire season. Openers are the key to success. Srikanth said on his YouTube channel, Gaikwad has been normal throughout the season.
He said, “Sanju also made a mess of things after the first over, as did Ruturaj Gaikwad. He never gave Sanju drivable balls. Both were caught by the LSG bowlers. Although Inglis did not score much, his partnership with Marsh made a lot of difference.”
On Friday, Samson scored 20 runs in 20 balls while Ruturaj Gaikwad scored only 13 runs in 9 balls.
CSK’s playoff prospects and next matches
Srikkanth also commented on Ruturaj Gaikwad’s team’s chances of qualifying for the playoffs this year.
“CSK haven’t been knocked out yet. Everyone hyped PBKS at the beginning of the season. But they are struggling now and are in a precarious position. RR has benefited the most from PBKS’s decline and this defeat by CSK. SRH is also coming off a dreadful defeat. So both teams He will play the game with a lot of tension,” Srikkanth said.
CSK will expect a strong performance from Ruturaj Gaikwad in the next two matches. The 2023 champions will essentially need to win both matches and improve their net run rate to qualify for the playoffs.
CSK will play Sunrisers Hyderabad in Chennai on May 18 and Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad on May 21.
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