Ruturaj Gaikwad's Slow Strike Rate in IPL 2026 Under Scrutiny

Ruturaj Gaikwad

Chennai Super Kings were 52 for two after the fifth over and Eshan Malinga came to bowl the last over of the powerplay. CSK needed to accelerate to put pressure on Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and they needed their captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, who was on 5 off 7 balls to shift gears. Instead, Gaikwad slowed things down further. Facing four deliveries in the over, the CSK skipper took three singles. After racing to 43/1 in the first three overs, CSK looked set for a 70-odd runs powerplay but the Men-in-Yellow managed only 14 runs and lost one wicket in the next three overs to finish the powerplay at 57/2. At the end of six overs, Gaikwad was on 9 off 11 balls, scoring at a strike rate of 81.82.

The innings was not an isolated case but it has been a pattern in IPL 2026. Among all batters who have faced at least 100 balls in the powerplay this season, Gaikwad has the lowest strike rate — 124.6. For comparison, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has scored at 244.51 and Abhishek Sharma at 228.87. While the rest of the openers in the league are scoring at the speed of a bullet train, Gaikwad still seems to be resting in the steam-engine era, perhaps unaware that the game around him has changed.

While speaking to broadcasters during the 10th over of CSK’s innings, their head coach Stephen Fleming argued, "I know it sounds old school, but we need one guy who bats through the innings. Rutu played a lot of cricket. He knows what's needed. We trust him in that." However, the CSK skipper hasn't been able to hold the innings together either. In the 13 innings so far in IPL 2026, Gaikwad has 321 runs to his name at a strike rate of 120.67 with just three 30+ scores.

In the match against SRH, Gaikwad was eventually dismissed in the 12th over by Pat Cummins. The SRH skipper had his counterpart caught at deep square leg by Eshan Malinga. Gaikwad walked back after scoring 15 runs from 21 balls at a strike rate of 71.42, without hitting a single boundary. On the same wicket, his fellow opening partner Sanju Samson scored 27 off 13 balls with five fours and a six, at a strike rate of 207.69.

At the start of the Mahabharata war, Arjuna put down his weapons because he could not bring himself to fight his brothers and relatives. Only after Lord Krishna reminded him of his duty did Arjuna step forward. Perhaps Gaikwad is also trapped in some dilemma, thinking the bowlers in the opposition are his fellow countrymen and friends, and that is stopping him from attacking the bowler. Maybe Gaikwad, too, needs a Krishna to show him the right path.

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