"Grateful for six years...": Ruturaj Gaikwad on his tenure with CSK in IPL

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], April 4 : Ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 clash SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH), Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad said he is grateful for the six years of journey with the franchise.
CSK will lock horns with SRH in the 18th fixture of the IPL 2024 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Friday.
CSK opener overtook all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja on Tuesday to become the franchise's seventh-highest run-getter in its history. The Chennai-based franchise skipper accomplished this upward movement in charts during the Indian Premier League (IPL) clash against the Gujarat Titans at Chepauk Stadium.
In 54 IPL matches for CSK, Gaikwad has scored 1859 runs at an average of 37.94 and a strike rate of 134.81. In 53 innings, he has scored a century and 14 fifties. His best score is 101*.
In 174 matches for CSK, Jadeja has scored 2745 runs at an average of 26.65 at a strike rate of 128.87, with two half-centuries. His best score is 62*.
The 27-year-old player further stated that the most positive outcome in his career was when he was selected by the Chennai franchise that bought him in 2019, however, I was not been selected in the playing XI in that year.
"I would say the most positive outcomes until now has been when I got selected in 2019. Though I knew that I wouldn't be a part of the playing eleven throughout the tournament, but to be in the stadium, to be in the dressing room, to be in the practice sessions with all of those players who have done really exceptional work in international cricket...So definitely I think 2019 was I would say the best learning curve for me and that really helped a lot immediately as I went on to India A squad and scored two to three hundreds and then followed up with good domestic performance as well," Gaikwad said as quoted by CSK official website.
"So, I would say even though I wasn't playing, but I was really grateful for that year that really turned me into a different professional and sort of got to know how to go into the business. So definitely it helped me a lot and after that to be able to play the first game in 2020 and then you know three fifties, three to four failures, then three fifties. Definitely, when you see a team like CSK at that time, I would say everyone were playing international cricket and obviously big names, so to fill into that team itself was a big achievement for me. And then obviously later on, some of the players were not really part of the squad in 2021. Then in 2022, there was a total change of the squad. So, I think I am grateful that I have been in the prime CSK team and now in the younger generation of CSK team as well. So really grateful for the six years of journey," the opener added.
The five-time champions are currently at third position in the IPL 2024 points table, with four points in three matches in the cash-rich league. After the three matches, the Ruturaj Gaikwad-led side has a net run rate of +0.976.
CSK squad for IPL 2024: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Rachin Ravindra, Ajinkya Rahane, Daryl Mitchell, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Sameer Rizvi, MS Dhoni (wk), Deepak Chahar, Maheesh Theekshana, Mustafizur Rahman, Tushar Deshpande, Shardul Thakur, Shaik Rasheed, Moeen Ali, Nishant Sindhu, Mitchell Santner, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Prashant Solanki, Mukesh Choudhary, Simarjeet Singh, RS Hangargekar, Aravelly Avanish.