When was the last time a CSK captain scored a 50 before Ruturaj Gaikwad?
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) tamed the mighty Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by seven wickets in the 22nd match of IPL 2024 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk, Chennai on April 8.
While the bowlers of CSK played a major hand in restricting the in-form KKR batters to a mere 137/9, it was the batters of the hosts who ensured that there were no hiccups when they strode out a while later.
Rachin Ravindra and skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad got their team off to a good start. Although the former departed after a quickfire 15, Gaikwad grinded it out in the middle, accompanying Daryl Mitchell, Shivam Dube, and ultimately MS Dhoni to orchestrate the chase.
Gaikwad, who was announced as captain of the franchise earlier this season, struck a 58-ball 67 on Monday, which was his first half-century this season.
Up until this game, the Pune-based batter had scores of 15, 46, 1, and 26 this season. Although he seemed to be in good nick with the bat at the top of the order, he could not quite capitalise on the starts he was getting. This half-century is bound to give him a lot of confidence.
The last time a CSK captain scored a half-century was back in 2019
Interestingly, Ruturaj Gaikwad's is the first half-century scored by the captain of the Chennai-based franchise since the 2019 season.
His incumbent MS Dhoni, who was in charge of CSK back then, last scored a half-century when he bagged an unbeaten 84 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Taking on their southern rivals at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, CSK were chasing a relatively challenging total of 162 runs. Having been 28/4 at one stage, the experienced pair of Ambati Rayudu and Dhoni steadied the ship for CSK, with the latter going on to strike a 48-ball 84.
Rayudu gave his skipper a lot of support before he had to ultimately depart for a run-a-ball 29. Despite having little support at the other end, Dhoni continued on his rampage to take his team close to the target.
However, heartbreak awaited the celebrated India captain as RCB eventually won the game by one run. How it came about is a story for the ages. Needing two runs to win off the last ball, Umesh Yadav bowled a slow and wide off-cutter that evaded Dhoni's attempted cut.
Shardul Thakur, at the other end, tried to sneak a bye through in order to at least tie the game and called Dhoni for a run. However, RCB wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel was alive to the situation and managed to run Thakur out by a marginal distance. Dhoni was seen to be distraught at the other end despite having brought his team extremely close.
Patel, who had scored 53 earlier in the day to set up this win for RCB, was effective in running Thakur out and handing this victory to his team on a platter.