He wasn’t even attempting to hit a four or a six

After the Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) defeat in their IPL 2026 clash against the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH), former India player Aakash Chopra has criticized Ruturaj Gaikwad for playing an extremely slow knock. He pointed out that the CSK captain wasn’t even trying to play a big shot.

Gaikwad scored 15 runs off 21 balls as CSK set SRH a 181-run target in the 63rd game of IPL 2026 in Chennai on Monday, May 18. The visitors then achieved the target with five wickets and six balls to spare to qualify for the playoffs.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, ‘Aakash Chopra,’ the former India batter questioned Gaikwad for scoring his runs at a pedestrian pace.

“What about Ruturaj Gaikwad and this knock? You made 15 runs off 21 balls. I was seeing the scorecard because the pitch is slow at times, and everyone plays slowly if that’s the case. Sanju Samson had a strike rate of 207. Urvil Patel had a strike rate of 162. Kartik Sharma had a strike rate of 168. Dewald Brevis had a strike rate of 162,” Chopra said.

“Shivam Dube was struggling. They were bowling very well in the end, and there was no field restriction. So he had a strike rate of 113. Prashant Veer scored 11 runs off nine balls. He had a strike rate of 122. 15 runs off 21 balls is a strike rate of 71. Not a single boundary, and the bigger thing than that was that he wasn’t even attempting to hit a four or a six, as if it didn’t matter,” he added.

Ruturaj Gaikwad was the only CSK batter to have a strike rate of less than 100 in their IPL 2026 clash against SRH. He was eventually dismissed while attempting his first big shot, caught at deep square leg off Pat Cummins’ bowling.

“Is the team management asking him to play this way?” – Aakash Chopra on Ruturaj Gaikwad’s approach in IPL 2026

In the same video, Aakash Chopra questioned whether the team management wants Ruturaj Gaikwad to play an anchor’s role and opined that the CSK captain should refuse to do so if that’s the case.

“Is the team management asking him to play this way, that he should be the pivot, and the team should revolve around him? Is it the team’s decision? If it is, you are the captain, refuse to play like that,” he said.

The cricketer-turned-commentator also wondered whether Gaikwad is succumbing to captaincy pressure.

“Secondly, is captaincy weighing him down because this has been happening for many games? When he has scored runs, he has not scored runs at a fair clip. You are asking Kartik Sharma to hit. You are saying the same thing to Urvil Patel and Sanju Samson,” Chopra observed.

Aakash Chopra highlighted that Ruturaj Gaikwad is a much better player and termed his approach disappointing. He opined that CSK would have won the game had they scored 15 more runs.