Former Indian batter Subramaniam Badrinath has lavished praise on Ruturaj Gaikwad’s leadership after CSK registered a 32-run win against Kolkata Knight Riders at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. After losing their first three matches of the season, CSK have bounced back strongly, winning their last two games against Delhi Capitals and KKR.

Meanwhile, CSK had lost their last seven matches under Gaikwad’s captaincy before these two wins and thus many pundits had raised concerns regarding the top order batter’s leadership skills.

Badrinath praised Gaikwad for using fast bowlers once KKR decided to open the innings with Sunil Narine.

Badrinath said on his YouTube Channel, “He was brilliant as captain. Once KKR opened with Narine, he bowled the pacers and did not show him, Akeal Hosein. It ended up helping CSK remove Finn Allen and Sunil Narine in the powerplay. Ruturaj’s captaincy has been questioned a lot. But after these last two matches, I’ve started trusting him as captain to an extent. Of course, we can’t expect him to be like Dhoni. But at least he has won back some trust as captain.”

On the other hand, former CSK batter praised Noor Ahmad, who returned with impressive figures of 3-21 in his quota of four overs. The Afghanistan spinner accounted for KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane, vice-captain Rinku Singh and all-rounder Cameron Green.

“The biggest positive for CSK from this match was Noor Ahmad. He is borderline CSK’s spearhead. Picking up wickets is the only way a bowler can get self-confidence, and he seems to have got it now. I expect big things from Noor going forward. If he bowls well, CSK’s bowling looks different and highly threatening,” said Badrinath (via the aforementioned source).

Chennai Super Kings will next take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at Hyderabad on Saturday.