Fleming was happy with Ruturaj’s excellent form, said- confidence in both batting and captaincy

Chennai: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) head coach Stephen Fleming said that Ruturaj Gaikwad has shown great consistency in decision-making and a lot of the credit for this can be given to his excellent form as a batsman. Gaikwad, who had a poor start to the IPL, scored 74 not out and 67 not out in the last two matches respectively. With this, CSK has reached sixth place in the points table after winning three of its last five matches.

“He is getting better in every match,” Fleming said after CSK’s eight-wicket win over Mumbai Indians on Saturday. It had a bit of a slow start, but he has performed brilliantly in the last few matches.” Fleming, who has been the coach of CSK for the last 18 seasons, also believes that Gaikwad’s good performance in batting also gave him confidence as a captain.

Fleming said, “Good performance in batting is very important for success in captaincy. He has shown excellent form in the last two matches. I think this is the result of his good decisions. So it is very important to juggle both these responsibilities and if you are not performing well in one, then keep a positive attitude towards both.” He admitted that Gaikwad was under pressure as a batsman as he had failed to cross the 30-run mark in his first seven matches.

Fleming said, “He (Gaikwad) was under a lot of pressure. There was a lot of pressure on him regarding batting and due to this, questions were being raised on his captaincy. Fleming was also happy that he could make good use of the impact player by sending Karthik Sharma at the right time. The young player, who joined CSK for more than Rs 14 crore, scored an unbeaten half-century while chasing the target of 160 runs. He said, “‘He is a great player and his price in the auction was very high. Other people also believe the same. He showed a good example of his skill and spirit today and hopefully he will continue to perform well in future also.”