Ruturaj Gaikwad and MS Dhoni
MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) stayed alive in the playoffs race and amassed two much-needed points after registering a comprehensive eight-wicket victory against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Sunday.
While chasing a 145-run total, the Chennai batting unit, contrary to their last outing against Mumbai Indians (MI), delivered an impressive performance to guide CSK to the victory with eight deliveries to spare. After registering a duck in his previous game, 22-year-old Ruturaj Gaikwad emerged as CSK's talisman by slamming an unbeaten 65 off 51 balls.
He was also assisted by Ambati Rayudu's 27-ball 39 in the middle overs. In the end, it was skipper Dhoni who joined Ruturaj and seal the victory for the Yellow Army.
Following CSK's impressive run-chase, Dhoni heaped praise on Ruturaj's batting exploits along with hailing the youngsters of the CSK contingent. In the first innings, another youngster- Sam Curran- stepped up to the occasion and scalped three wickets in his four overs to put a halt on RCB's run-flow.
"This was one of the perfect games. The execution was there and we were able to pick wickets regularly to restrict them to a total that's slightly below par.
Spinners have done a very good job. Middle overs we have struggled to take wickets. That could be one of the reasons why we didn't do well this season. We haven't been consistent with the bat, today the start was very good. Rutu (Gaikwad) played really well, backed himself to play the shots that he would play than worry about big shots," said Dhoni in the past-match presentation.
"You do quite a few things, show a bit more emotion (on the happier side) so that the guys don't panic. Let's go out there and give it your best shot and enjoy the game whatever the result might be."
"If you aren't out there enjoying, it becomes very painful. If we had seen this (on Ruturaj performing well) in the second or the third game we could have got a glimpse. But it's been tough on Rutu as well. He batted in Chennai, then Covid, the extra quarantine took precious time away from him. He got comfortable with every run today after the single he got," he added.
Hoping to win remaining of their IPL 2020 fixtures, CSK are scheduled to face Eoin Morgan-led Kolkata Knight Riders on Thursday at Dubai International Stadium.
