Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad lauded Shivam Dube after they bested Gujarat Titans by 63 runs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Tuesday. Dube scored a match-winning knock of 51 runs off just 23 balls with the help of two fours and five maximums as he struck at 221.74.
The left-hander made great use of the long handle and played at the top of his game. The southpaw was able to get off the blocks in a jiffy, smashing Sai Kishore for two sixes on the first two balls of his innings.
Gaikwad revealed that Dube’s confidence is very high at the moment as he is playing at his best.
Ruturaj Gaikwad said in the post-match presentation, “In terms of confidence, the management and Mahi bhai worked with him personally, his confidence is very high. He knows his roles very well. Definitely he is a big plus for us.”
On the other hand, Gaikwad also showered praise on Rachin Ravindra, who gave a blistering start to his team. The New Zealander scored a whirlwind knock of 46 runs off just 20 balls as he continued to impress.
Gaikwad added, “Definitely today’s game was perfect – batting, bowling and fielding, and against a team like Gujarat we needed to come up with a performance like this. In Chennai we are not sure how the wicket will be, we need to do well irrespective of batting or bowling first. Here if we have wickets in hand at the end it helps. Personally felt, Rachin batted brilliantly in the powerplay and took the game away. From there we were always ahead.”
CSK was also brilliant in the field as they took all of their chances. Barring one difficult chance going down (by Rachin Ravindra), they caught everything. MS Dhoni and Ajinkya Rahane took fine catches and it was a huge positive for the home team.
Gaikwad concluded, “I’m impressed with the fielding as well. Maybe one or two youngsters we have extra this year and great effort from Jinks, even in the last game he was running from one end to the other. Fielding is a big tick for us.”
Chennai Super Kings will next take on Delhi Capitals at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam on Sunday.
