Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad expressed his delight at leading his team to a much-needed victory in the final home match of the ongoing IPL 2024. CSK, on Sunday (May 12), thrashed Rajasthan Royals by five wickets at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. to return to the winning path.
After suffering a 35-run defeat against Gujarat Titans in their last game, CSK bounced back in style to register their seventh win of the season. RR captain Sanju Samson won the toss and opted to bat first. On a slow pitch, CSK players did well to restrict the RR to 141/5.
Simarjeet Singh was the pick of the CSK bowlers, taking 3 wickets while Tushar Deshpande claimed two. In response, CSK chased down the total within 19 overs by losing five wickets. Ruturaj Gaikwad led from the front as he stood tall at one end and scored an unbeaten 42 to take his team home.
Ruturaj Gaikwad on the victory:
At the end of the match, Ruturaj Gaikwad said that winning the last game of the season at home was a wonderful feeling. He also claimed that CSK were not under pressure even after losing a few wickets in quick succession after the powerplay. The CSK captain added that the team would like to play at home on courts that help the players.
“It’s a wonderful feeling, especially winning the last match of the league stage. We were cruising after the powerplay, but we let the opposition in with wickets. But we had the kind of batsmen to finish the job and we didn’t accept pressure.” Gaikwad said.
“We would like to play on pitches that keep our bowlers in the game, also the spinners. Bowling on the wicket is usually the plan here when it is slow. But sometimes it flattens out and the yorker and the use of two balls shorts become important. But slow pace is a good strategy here.” he added.
CSK is currently at the third place in the points table. They will face Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their last league match of the season.