Chennai, Mar 27:
Having made two out of two after the baton was passed to him by talismanic M.S. Dhoni, five time champions and title holder Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad said last night’s comprehensive 63 win over Gujarat Titans (GT) was a near perfect game as the team excelled in all the three departments.
“It was a near to perfect game, in the sense of batting-bowling-fielding, all three departments,” Ruturaj said.
“Against a team like Gujarat, we had to produce this kind of performance. (100+ runs in first ten overs)”, the skipper, who scored 46 in 36 balls after a brisk opening stand with Rachin Ravindra (46, 20 balls), said.
“In Chennai when you are not sure how the wicket will be, you must bat well irrespective of when you’re batting. Having wickets in the last ten (overs) really helps here”, he observed.
“Personally, thought Rachin batted and put us against in the game. Jinx (Ajinkya Rahane) and Shivam Dube (51, 23 balls) played good roles. Not to forget our youngster Sameer Rizvi as well”, the CSK skipper said.
On the phenomenal batting of Dube, Ruturaj said, “Just confidence… When he came here the management worked with him personally, Mahi bhai worked with him personally. He knows what role he is playing and which bowler to take on. A big plus for us.”
On the team’s fielding, when they held some good catches in the deep, including three catches by Rachin Ravindra, the CSK captain said “I think pretty much same, I am impressed as well. Maybe we have got 1-2 extra youngsters in the team. Great effort from Jinx (who took a stunning low catch diving forward to get rid of David Miller off Tushar Deshpande, running in from the deep square leg fence) even in the last game and this game.”
Having figured in three franchisees, Shivam Dube, who was adjudged man of the match for his scintillating effort, said “this franchise is something different from all others. They are giving me the freedom. They want me to do better and I also want to win some matches.”
Losing GT skipper Shubman Gill, who fell early in a tough chase, said his team was outplayed when the CSK was batting and then their bowlers were spot on and executed their plans well.
“They outplayed us when they were batting and when they bowled their execution was spot on. We backed ourselves to get a good powerplay score, but once we couldn’t we were always playing catch up,” he said.
