Ruturaj Gaikwad played a captain's knock to help defending champions Chennai Super Kings post a big total of 210/4 in their eighth Indian Premier League 2024 match against visiting Lucknow Super Giants at the iconic Chepauk on Tuesday. (Match Blog | Scorecard)
Carrying the bat, the new captain compiled a fluent 108 not out off 60 balls as the five-time champions jostle for an IPL 2024 play-off spot. After suffering an eight-wicket defeat in the reverse fixture last Friday, CSK needed a statement win. And they have a set a target, thanks to their rookie skipper.
Gaikwad, in the process, became only the third Chennai Super Kings batter to score two centuries in the IPL after Murali Vijay and Shane Watson.
And it looks like he is warming up to the job. Succeeding Mahendra Singh Dhoni at the helm was never going to be easy. The 27-year-old struggled initially, managing a string of low scores by his standard -- 15 vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru, 46 vs Gujarat Titans and 26 vs Sunrisers Hyderabad.
But in the subsequent innings, he scored a couple of half-centuries before notching up this century. He has 349 runs in eight innings, and is primed to take on Virat Kohli for the top scorer's honour this season.
Kohli, doing the heavy lifting for an embattled Royal Challengers Bengaluru side, has scored 30 more runs than Gaikwad. The former RCB captain has also batted eight times.
Sunrisers Hyderabad's Travis Head is third with 324 runs in six innings, while early pacesetter Riyan Parag accumulated 318 in seven innings. His Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson is fifth with 314 in eight outings.
Shivam Dube, who stitched a 104-run stand with Gaikwad tonight, is sixth with 311 runs from eight innings. Mumbai Indians' Rohit Sharma (303, also in eight) is the only other batter to breach the 300-run mark at the time of writing.
