After his side’s victory over Gujarat Titans (GT) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batting coach Michael Hussey praised newly appointed skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad and said he is a very “smart, cricket-savvy man.” “man who does a great job, especially in rotating the bowlers and setting pitches. Chepauk’s fortress remained untouched as the Chennai Super Kings registered a comprehensive 63-run win over the Gujarat Titans in the ongoing Indian Premier League on Monday ( IPL) 2024.
After the match, Hussey was quoted by ESPNCricinfo as saying: “I think he (Ruturaj) has been fantastic. He’s very well prepared. Him, Flem (head coach Stephen Fleming), MSD – they get together and talk about tactics before the match But I think that the way Rutu alternates the bowlers… the pitches are very good. He seems very clear. The message to the bowlers is also very clear.”
“So I think he’s doing a great job at the moment; I know he’s got good support around him, but he’s a very smart guy and a very cricketing guy, you know; he understands the game well. That he did.” I’ve got a good team to work with too, which helps too, but I think he’s been fantastic so far,” Hussey concluded his point.
The former Australian batsman also heaped praise on all-rounder Rachin Ravindra, the Kiwi star who has given his team explosive starts with knocks of 37 in 15 balls and 46 in 20 balls respectively so far. Hussey said Rachin tries to absorb as much knowledge as he can and that the audience gives him more energy.
“He’s just trying to soak up as much knowledge as he can. I think he’s feeding the crowd a little bit as well. And yeah, if you hit some good shots before, I think his confidence grew and he believed that” I can perform on this stage and grow from there.’ “I think he just went out with a clear mind and a nice positive attitude and got off to a good start. There’s not much to work on with this level of world-class players,” Hussey said.
One of the biggest surprises of the match was a cameo from 20-year-old Sameer Rizwi, in which he scored 14 in six balls with two sixes. A major highlight was him smoking T20 superstar Rashid Khan for a huge six on the very first ball of his IPL career and scoring another big hit on his fourth ball.
Hussey said Rizwi has natural batting ability, especially against spinners.
“Well, he’s got a lot of natural ability and natural hitting ability. We’ve seen it in training, especially against the spinners. I mean, he can go far and he can hit the ball very cleanly.” the coach said.
“But it’s still a big ask for a young player to play his first IPL match against arguably the best T20 bowler of all time, Rashid Khan, and hit the first ball you face six times. I mean, that’s just crazy So we’re very excited for him,” he added.
Hussey said Rizwi was excited to play in front of the packed Chepauk crowd and it was his youth and fearlessness that helped him play with freedom. The batting coach praised the think-thanks for promoting the rising batsman ahead of MS Dhoni.
“He was excited to play, especially here at Chepauk, with such a great crowd. And I think that’s the great thing about the youth, they have no fear, so they can come out and just play with that full freedom, right? also a bit of a masterstroke from the think tank,” said the former Aussie Great.
“Because I think we all expected MSD to come out and play those last few balls. But they realized that he (Rizvi) has a natural strength against spin and that’s why they wanted to send the youngster out. And you know, he delivered two sixes at the end which was good for his confidence,” concluded Hussey.
Finally, Hussey said it was a directive from Fleming to “keep moving the game forward.”
“Now that the Impact Player rule is coming in, we basically have an extra batsman and an extra bowler for the entire match. So the batting order is getting longer and longer. I think we have MSD at number eight. Which is crazy, you know, and so is MSD.” We are hitting really well at the moment too,” Hussey said.
“So because we have so much depth in our resources there, it means that the players in the rankings (don’t) choose the positive route with doubts and they will certainly get the support from the coaches and the captain that we would have.” I prefer you keep trying to move the game forward. If you get out of there, that’s fine. You will never be criticized for that. Flem’s speech is about playing fast. We want to keep playing fast,” Hussey concluded.
At the start of the match, GT put CSK to bat first. Fiery knocks from Rachin Ravindra (46 in 20 balls, with six fours and three sixes), skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad (46 in 36 balls, with five fours and a six) and Dube (51 in 23 balls, with two fours and five sixes) took CSK to 206/6 in 20 overs.
Rashid Khan (2/49) and Spencer Johnson (1/35) were among the bowlers’ choices for GT.
During the chase, GT lost wickets at regular intervals. Sai Sudharsan (37 in 31 balls, with three fours), Wriddhiman Saha (21 in 17 balls, with four boundaries) and David Miller (21 in 16 balls, with three fours) tried to resist but just failed. enough. GT were restricted to 143/8 and lost by 63 runs.
Tushar Deshpande (2/21), Deepak Chahar (2/28) and Mustafizur Rahman (2/30) were the best bowlers for CSK.
Dube took home the ‘Player of the Match’ award.
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