Ruturaj Gaikwad Reveals Several CSK Players Were Down with Flu: 'Weren't Sure Who Was Playing Till Morning'

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Skipper Gaikwad, who got the team off to a positive start with his 21-ball-32-run knock at the top of the order, revealed the challenges ahead of the game at Dharamshala, but added that he was happy with the win.

Chennai Super Kings registered a 28-run win over Punjab Kings at the Dharamshala Stadium in Himachal Pradesh on Sunday in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League.

CSK put up a total of 167 in 20 overs as Ravindra Jadeja top scored with 43 runs, before limiting PBKS to a score of 139 for the loss of 9 wickets with the star all-rounder claiming 3 wickets, while Tushar Deshpande and Simarjeet Singh picked up two wickets each.

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Skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad, who got the team off to a positive start with his 21-ball-32-run knock at the top of the order, revealed that the common consensus going into the game was that the wicket was slow, but the start they had was rather good.

“Everyone believed the wicket was slow. Even low bounce,” the captain said.

“Just that the start we got, we were thinking of pushing till 180-200. After losing wickets, thought 160-170 was a good score,” he added.

Seamer Simarjeet was brought in as an impact player in the second innings and delivered with the scalps of Jitesh Sharma and Harshal Patel. Gaikwad explained the reason behind opting for the bowler as an impact sub over springing or a batter.

“Don’t know what he’s doing, but even in preseason, he was clicking 150kph. He didn’t get too many chances, but it’s never too late,” Gaikwad said.

“We were thinking of going with an impact batter, but then we thought the batter would give 10-15 runs, but he could give 2-3 wickets,” he explained.

He also added that the playing order was up in the air even during the morning of gameday due to the flu that had made its way around, but signed off by stating that he was happy with the clinical win.

“Some of the guys were struggling with flu. We weren’t even sure till the morning who was playing or not. To get the win, really happy with that,” he concluded.