'I'm under pressure when I go for the toss': Ruturaj Gaikwad reveals practicing tosses during training sessionsÂ
Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad has lost 9 tosses in 10 matches in IPL 2024 so far.
Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad is having a great time with the bat in IPL 2024. The opening batter has scored 509 runs in 10 matches at an average of 63.62 so far. He is also the current Orange Cap holder of this season. But his luck doesn't seem to favour him in terms of the tosses.
On Wednesday (May 1), Gaikwad lost his ninth toss in IPL 2024. He has won just one toss in ten matches so far. His record at the toss seems to be concerning him because of the dew factor at Chepauk in the second innings of the match. With dew settling in, the ball becomes wet in the second innings and the game tilts heavily in the favour of the chasing side.
'I'm under pressure when I go for the toss': Ruturaj Gaikwad
During the post-match presentation, Ruturaj Gaikwad rued his luck at the tosses and revealed that he practices tosses during training sessions.
"Probably 50-60 runs short, the pitch wasn't great when we batted, it got better later on. With the impact rule as well, we were well short. I've practiced the tosses (during the practice sessions), it's not going well in the match, not sure what to do. To be truthful, I'm under pressure when I go to the middle (for the toss)," Gaikwad reveaked after the match.
"We were also surprised that we won by a big margin in the last match considering the conditions. I think the last two games, the conditions and pitch was better, it allowed us to fight hard and get to 200+, today, it wasn't good enough to get to even 180," Gaikwad said about the conditions.
Gaikwad also added the problem of not having a fully fit bowling attack which has not allowed Chennai to play with full strength.
"It's a real problem (on the player missing due to injuries and Chahar walking away in the first over), there are phases where you want wickets, but you have only two bowlers, the dew took the spinners out of the equation. It was tough, but there're four games left and we will try and come back to winning ways," he added.
The dew played a vital role in the match as CSK found it difficult to score in the initial phase of first innings. They scored 162-7 in the first innings, which was clearly a below par total on this surface. Punjab Kings reached the target with 7 wickets in hand in 17.5 overs on the back of forties from Jonny Bairstow and Rilee Rossouw.
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