CSK Coach Drops Big Ruturaj Gaikwad Captaincy Hint Amid Sanju Samson Speculations

All but out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 playoffs race, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) head coach Stephen Fleming had to answer quite a lot of questions about where the team goes from here on. One of the most difficult, yet important, topics to address was the way skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad has played this season. Against the Sunrisers Hyderabad on Monday, Ruturaj scored just 15 runs off 21 balls, without hitting a single boundary. When CSK coach Fleming was asked about Ruturaj's performances this season, he didn't mince his words and admitted that the skipper wasn't up to the mark.

While Sanju Samson has done well and scored runs quickly in the powerplay, Ruturaj has struggled to do that. Fleming admitted that the loss of wickets in powerplays has hurt the team's cause this year. When it comes to Ruturaj, the New Zealander had no qualms in admitting that he needs to address the shortcomings.

"I'll start with the powerplay. The key one is wickets, really. Yeah, I think Ruturaj can do more. He's done more in the past. He's been a fine player at the top. He hasn't produced the quantity of runs at the pace of runs (this season) that he's done in his career. And that's something that he will address," he said in the post-match press conference.

"But in conjunction with Urvil Patel, who's come in, who's pretty free-spirited, so there is a combination aspect to it. But that is something that we'll ponder over. I thought today got difficult in terms of the pace of the pitch," said Fleming.

180 More Than Competitive

Despite the tricky nature of the pitch, on which the ball was gripping and stopping a bit, Fleming said that 180 was more than a competitive score on the surface, but the Sunrisers deserve credit for the way they batted.

"So, getting through to a score of 180 was more than competitive. The spin bowling aspect, I don't know. I haven't spent a lot of time evaluating that one. It wasn't a lot of turn. It was slow today. There wasn't a huge amount of turn.

"But the use of Akeal Hosein, and we've got Veer there as well, and Noor. Yeah, those are things that we will go over, and we do review them when we're looking at it. Today, probably if you look at their attack, it was their seam bowlers that bowled cutters into the wicket hard that did the damage. So, our attack was a little bit different to that," he said.

On Ruturaj Gaikwad's Captaincy Future

When asked about the future of captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, Fleming refused to throw in the towel, saying the skipper has done well and is trying to learn every day.

"Yeah, there's been a lot of change. So, this year, at least, he was here the whole time (due to an injury). Last year, he wasn't here at all. So, that would be unfair to judge that. But, yeah, there's been a lot of work done behind the scenes as we learn about this group of players. Obviously, the way through, we've made some mistakes. Always put our hand up for that. But we've also done some good things.

"There's been some players who have come through. We've, sort of, the second half, we've won a number of games and we've been in the fight with this. We just haven't been accurate enough," he said.

Fleming feels the transition from MS Dhoni to Ruturaj Gaikwad is a big one and it's going to take time before the latter steps up and truly fills the void left by the India icon.

"It's a big transition from having one of the best captains that cricket's seen running the franchise for such a long time to a new captain. So, it's going to take a little bit of time. And, look, he's doing a good job. He has a massive amount of respect with this group of players. And he's learning all the time and putting that into play. So, going forward, I have no doubt he'll be a fine captain for this franchise," the head coach said, giving Ruturaj his vote of confidence.

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Topics mentioned in this article

Chennai Super Kings Sunrisers Hyderabad Ruturaj Gaikwad Stephen Fleming Sanju Samson MS Dhoni IPL 2026 Cricket