Ruturaj Gaikwad’s numbers at the start of IPL 2026 are hard to ignore: 6, 28, 7 and 15, a strike-rate of 103.70 and no innings beyond the powerplay that shaped a match. For a batter who has twice passed 600 runs in earlier seasons, the lull feels pronounced, and former internationals Wasim Jaffer and Aaron Finch believe the issue is mental rather than technical.
“He’s somebody who wants to score big. You know, being an opener, I don’t think you need to look at [trying to get] 80 or 100 from the outset. I think you need to look at giving a terrific start, the kind of start the openers want,” Jaffer told ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut show. “He’s not somebody who is going at a 200-plus strike rate. If he’s asked to push the scoring rate, I think he needs to take a lot more risk. He’s got the game. He’s got hundreds in the IPL. But he just, I feel, holds himself [back].”
Key facts first
• Gaikwad: 56 runs in four innings, strike-rate 103.70
• CSK: two wins, two defeats, lifted slightly by victory over Delhi Capitals on Saturday
• Missed most of 2025 with a wrist injury; limited T20 cricket since
Finch, who captained Australia to a T20 World Cup, frames it as a shift from “bulk runs” to “impact”: “It’s okay to have a player like that in your side, like Shubman Gill, if he’s batting with somebody who is a bit of a cowboy at the other end, somebody who’s striking at 200-plus. If he goes on to get 60s and 70s and sets up the middle order or bats with a middle order where he can control [the innings] if need be, he gets off strike and gets somebody on strike who can really take them on… But he’s doing neither. He’s not getting off to a flyer and he’s not getting big enough scores to have a significant impact on games.”
Finch adds that years of orthodox batting habits can be hard to ditch: “You have to be in the right mindset to be able to play like that because you have to remember, probably for 25 years, his game and his focus has been so narrow on bulk runs, ‘get runs, runs, runs’. You have to change your mindset to impact: what is the biggest impact I can have on this game, and how can I impact this game in the best possible way as quick as I can? The kids who have grown up playing T20 cricket from their introduction to cricket, they’ve got the ability to just say, ‘you know what, whatever happens, happens; I’m just going to take them on’. Whereas other guys, they’ve been told every day, ‘get hundreds, get hundreds, get hundreds, get multiple runs’. So that’s purely a mindset shift.”
Context matters. Gaikwad’s 2025 campaign was wrecked by injury, forcing MS Dhoni to retake the captaincy. Since then the right-hander has banked first-class and List A runs, including a 105 against South Africa in an ODI last winter, but played no domestic T20 cricket before this IPL. A touch of “rust”, as one CSK analyst put it privately, is inevitable.
Yet IPL trends have moved on. Powerplay run-rates are nudging ten an over; teams often treat the first six overs as a mini-match inside the match. A strike-rate a shade above 100, even for four games, sticks out. It is not that Gaikwad lacks the strokes—his off-side play is still pristine—but hesitation, however minor, allows bowlers to dictate.
Analytical view (light on jargon)
The demand on a modern opener is two-fold: clear the in-field early and still have bandwidth to bat deep if the start clicks. Gaikwad currently occupies a middle ground—neither seizing the fielding restrictions nor batting long enough to compensate later. One extra boundary in each early over would lift his strike-rate into the mid-130s, a small tweak that forces captains to rethink fields and offers middle-order hitters a softer launchpad.
CSK’s options
Coach Stephen Fleming rarely panics, and sources suggest no immediate change at the top. The franchise invested in new-ball acceleration through all-rounder Shivam Dube and English hitter Will Jacks, but both are slotted lower in the order. A bolder play would be to pair Devon Conway with a free-swinger and slide Gaikwad to No.3—yet CSK traditionally back incumbents.
Empathy and balance
Gaikwad’s work ethic is intact; he spent an extra half-hour in the Hyderabad nets on match-eve, focusing on lofted drives over cover. One aide described him as “almost too keen to prove a point”. The numbers may look lean, but they are four innings in a long tournament. Equally, Jaffer and Finch’s critique carries weight: the league moves quickly, and adaptation is non-negotiable.
What next?
CSK face Kolkata Knight Riders mid-week, a side with spin up front—Sunil Narine likely inside the powerplay. A proactive start, even 20 off 12 balls, would silence many debates. If the pattern repeats, selectors and fans alike will keep asking whether the elegant opener can flick the mental switch from tunnel vision to rapid impact.
For now, the ball—literally and figuratively—remains in Gaikwad’s court.
