Ruturaj Gaikwad, captain of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), has been fined after his team maintained a slow over-rate during Match 66 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 against the Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, which was held on Thursday, May 21.
As this was his team’s second offence (first offence in Match 18) of the season under Article 2.22 of the IPL’s Code of Conduct, which pertains to minimum over-rate offences, Gaikwad was fined INR 24 lakhs. The rest of the members of the Playing XI, including the Impact Player, will be fined either INR six lakhs or 25 per cent of their respective match fees, whichever is less.
Gaikwad reflected on the loss and said that it did not turn out to be the way they wanted it to. Failing to chase down the 229-run target in 20 overs, CSK were bundled out for just 140 in 13.5 overs, which handed an 89-run win to the Shubman Gill-led side. Gaikwad said that they could not bowl well enough in the first innings, especially during the overs with field restrictions, and a slow over-rate eventually hurt them during the death as well.
“We wanted to chase whatever the total is ASAP. When you’re chasing 230, it’s not easy against that bowling attack. Thought, why don’t we give it a shot and express ourselves? Credit to them. Wicket was spongy to start; they started well. Our bowling wasn’t good in the powerplay. Hard to stop their openers. We had our chance to restrict them to under 200 but failed to do it,” he said after the match.
Furthermore, he also shed light on what turned out to be a season to forget for the five-time champions.
“Tough season, after a hat-trick of losses first up. We found momentum; we found the right spots and combinations, but then were hit by injuries. Ghosh and Overton going out unsettled us; we were a batter or bowler short in the last three games. Not many people buy the fact that we are a young team in transition , with a lot of inexperienced players. More than 8-10 players have played fewer than 20 games; they’ve gotten exposure, and we’ve found out what areas we’re lacking,” he highlighted.
“We still got six away wins; proud of the unit. We missed out on chasing 80 in 10 in Hyderabad and couldn’t restrict them in Chennai. Not able to do that. Still proud. Moving on from Rahane, Rayudu, etc., the experience we had is tough… Karthik, Urvil and Brevis, who missed out initially, are there. Karthik has potential and has areas to improve. Urvil’s playing a full season for the first time; that comes with expectations,” the Pune-born emphasised.Â
The biggest question that the CSK captain answered is whether the franchise will be seeing MS Dhoni around in 2027 after the former skipper missed the entire 2026 season due to a calf muscle injury in addition to a thumb injury later on.Â
You and I’ll get to know it next year [on MS Dhoni for 2027]. It’s a hard miss for us. He can come in those late overs and change the game just by staying in the crease. Never know about next season, but really happy with the guys we have.
(Input: IPL)
