Ruturaj Gaikwad: CSK’s ‘Arjuna’ who refuses to attack

Chennai Super Kings were 52 for two after the fifth over and Eshan Malinga lost the last over powerplay. CSK needed to step up to put pressure on Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and needed their captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, who was on 5 off 7 balls, to switch gears. Instead, Gaikwad slowed things down further. Facing four deliveries, the CSK captain took three singles. After racing to 43/1 in the first three overs, it looked like CSK would have a powerplay of 70-odd runs, but the Man-in-Yellow managed just 14 runs and lost one wicket in the next three overs to complete the over at 57/2. At the end of six overs, Gaikwad was on 9 off 11 balls and scored at a success rate of 81.82. The innings was not an isolated incident but a pattern in IPL 2026. Of all batsmen who have faced at least 100 balls in the powerplay this season, Gaikwad has the lowest strike rate — 124.6. In comparison, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi scored at 244.51 and Abhishek Sharma at 228.87.While the rest of the starters in the league are scoring at the speed of a bullet train, Gaikwad seems to be still resting in the steam engine era, perhaps unaware that the game has changed around him.Speaking to TV stations during the 10th over of CSK’s innings, their head coach Stephen Fleming argued, “I know it sounds old school, but we need one guy who bats through the innings. Rutu has played a lot of cricket. He knows what it takes. We trust him with that.”However, even the CSK captain could not hold the innings together. In 13 innings so far in IPL 2026, Gaikwad has 321 runs at a strike rate of 120.67 with just three 30+ scores. In the match against SRH, Gaikwad was eventually dismissed in the 12th over by Pat Cummins. The SRH captain had his counterpart caught at deep square leg by Eshan Malinga.Gaikwad returned after scoring 15 runs from 21 balls at a strike rate of 71.42 without hitting a single boundary.In the same wicket, his teammate Sanju Samson scored 27 off 13 balls with five fours and a six at a strike rate of 207.69.At the beginning of the Mahabharata war, Arjuna laid down his arms because he could not bring himself to fight with his brothers and relatives. It was only after Lord Krishna reminded him of his duty that Arjuna stepped forward. Perhaps Gaikwad is also trapped in some dilemma as he thinks that the opposition bowlers are his countrymen and friends and this prevents him from attacking the bowlers. Maybe even Gaikwad needs Krishna to show him the right path.