IPL 2022: We did not play to our expectations – Ruturaj Gaikwad

Chennai Super Kings opener Ruturaj Gaikwad admitted they didn’t play up to their expectations after finishing at the ninth place in the ongoing Tata IPL 2022.

CSK could only manage four wins in their 14 league stage matches and they were not able to come up with a collective effort.

Gaikwad, who finished as the Orange Cap holder in IPL 2021 with 635 runs, didn’t have the best of seasons in 2022. The right-hander from Maharashtra scored 368 runs in 14 matches at an average of 26.29 and a strike rate of 126.46.

Furthermore, CSK’s middle order wasn’t consistent enough for them, which led to their downfall. Moreover, they had an inexperienced pace bowling battery, which did a decent job as Mukesh Chaudhary and Simarjeet Singh impressed with their ability to swing the new ball.

“Many people would be saying that we did not have luck going our way or we did not have things going our way. I would be very honest and tell them that we did not play to our expectations. But, as I said, we have to accept things and move forward,” said CSK opener Ruturaj Gaikwad.

“You (CSK fans) have our backs. We will come out of this year really stronger next year,” he added.

On the other hand, Devon Conway, who scored three consecutive fifties in the IPL, said they will look to bounce back stronger in the next season.

Devon Conway, told CSK TV that, “We all know it wasn’t quite our year this time. We can accept that and move on. We will bounce back next year. It’s not because of lack of trying or practice, we just didn’t quite play at our best this year. Things will be better next year, for sure.”

CSK’s new ball bowler Simarjeet Singh added they will look to take their learnings from this season and get better in their execution.

“When you lose, even if the process that you followed was the right one, you tend to question it. In hindsight, you feel as if you could have done things in a different way. But, we all are trying to learn something from this. From every game, if we try to extract as many learnings as possible, that will hold us in good stead,” said Singh.