‘Didn’t lose by big margin, was just 50 runs’: CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad downplays RCB loss at home after 17 years

Rajat Patidar-led Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) managed to do the unthinkable. They breached Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) fortress at the MA Chidambaram Stadium by defeating the five-time champions by 50 runs in Match 8 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 edition. CSK put in a lacklustre show with the bat, and as a result, the side fell short by 50 runs in the chase of 197.

After the loss, CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad made a comment, saying his side did not lose by many runs but “just 50.” No CSK batter could stay at the crease for a long haul as the likes of Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Suyash Sharma, and Krunal Pandya stopped the hosts in their tracks. This is the first time that RCB defeated CSK at Chepauk since the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2008.

Skipper Gaikwad fell in the first over of the chase for a duck as he failed to nail the hook shot off Josh Hazlewood’s bowling. However, after the loss, the 28-year-old said he was happy that CSK “did not lose by a big margin.” He also stated that the Chepauk pitch got a little slower and sticky in the second innings, making batting tough.

“To be honest, I still feel 170 was a par score on this wicket. It wasn’t that great to bat. A bad day in the fielding cost us really badly. At the end of the day, when you are chasing 170, you bat differently. You have a little bit of time when you go in to bat. When you’re chasing 20 runs extra on a wicket where you know it’s going to be a little bit sticky, and it’s going to stop after the ball gets old, you have to bat slightly differently in the powerplay,” Gaikwad said at the post-match presentation.

“It got a little bit slower and sticky. The new ball was sticking a lot until the five overs, don’t really know how it happened. I went and backed my shot, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. There are times when you have a par score in your mind, and probably when you’re chasing 20 runs extra, you always want to be a step ahead of the game while you are chasing. That’s what the thinking was, didn’t really work out. Still happy that we didn’t lose by a big margin, and at the end, it was just 50 runs,” he added.

MS Dhoni bats at No.9

In the match against RCB, former CSK captain MS Dhoni came to bat at No.9, leaving fans and experts perplexed. In the end, the wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 30 off 16 balls. However, the game was long lost when Dhoni walked out in the middle.

Earlier, RCB posted 196/7 in the allotted 20 overs as the likes of Phil Salt (32 off 16 balls), Rajat Patidar (51 off 32 balls) and Tim David (22 off 8 balls) played out of their skins on a sluggish Chepauk track. For CSK, only Noor Ahmad left an impact with the ball, as he returned with figures of 3/36.

“Definitely a different scenario when you have three world-class spinners in your team. You want the new batters to face them. That’s where the game changes a lot. They just kept going, we dropped catches at crucial times and then there was always an extra six or extra boundary that was coming after that,” said Gaikwad.

“The momentum kept going and didn’t stop till the final over. There’s a long flight to Guwahati, we have to turn up mentally. We’re going to have bad day in batting and bowling in a tournament like IPL but I feel the fielding has to improve a lot and we should come back stronger in the fielding department,” he added.