Former Australian cricketer and Chennai Super Kings’ batting coach Michael Hussey lauded Ruturaj Gaikwad, the newly appointed skipper of the team, for his exceptional performance throughout the tournament. The youngster was given the challenging task of stepping into the shoes of MS Dhoni just a day before IPL 2024 was about to begin.
Gaikwad propelled his team to an emphatic win against the feisty Sunrisers Hyderabad by 78 runs on Sunday, where he fell just 2 runs short of another century in the tournament. Following the win, the CSK coach revealed that it was challenging for Gaikwad to follow in the footsteps of the Indian legend.
“It has been challenging for him as well. He has taken over as captain to which you have to take your hat off to him. He is succeeding the greatest of all time in this country,” Hussey said. He was also in awe of the youngster’s abilities as he spoke at length about his exceptional qualities in terms of timing and placement.
"Gaikwad is such a wonderful player. He is a brilliant timer of the cricket ball. I've been asking him what his secret is in terms of his placement, he always finds the gaps,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}"Gaikwad is such a wonderful player. He is a brilliant timer of the cricket ball. I've been asking him what his secret is in terms of his placement, he always finds the gaps,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}The former Australian left-hander also mentioned that Gaikwad was a smart batsman and knew the recipe to strike a balance between attacking and soaking the pressure. “He is a smart batsman as well, he knows when to attack and when to soak up pressure. He plays spin well, he plays seam well. He can score all around the ground. He's almost one step ahead of the bowlers a lot of times. He is wonderful to watch. Very thankful that he is in our team,” he added further.
While taking over as the captain might have been the most daunting task in the right-hander’s career, Hussey revealed that he has been working on clearing the vision for the players as well as assessing their responsibilities, he said, "We don't talk about it (S/R) much at all. We talk about each player since they need to assess the conditions out in the middle as quickly as they can. The batter needs to take up the responsibility and the ownership in the middle.”
“Sometimes, as coaches, we put too much into the players' heads. I am trying to take as much out of their heads as possible, let them be as clear as they possibly can, see the ball and react accordingly,” he added.
Gaikwad has been phenomenal with the bat this season being the second-highest scorer in the tournament so far. The right-hander has scored 447 runs in nine matches with three fifties and a hundred to his name.