CSK bowling coach Eric Simmons has backed Ruturaj Gaikwad to find from sooner, rather than later, playing down concerns over his slow start to the IPL 2024 season. Ruturaj has been known for his consistency at the top of the batting order, but the young opener has struggled to make a significant impact with the bat after taking over as captain of the 5-time champions in the new season.
Eric Simmons said Ruturaj Gaikwad has been calm while also explaining the high-octane nature of the IPL. Chennai, who have won 2 and lost 2, will take on Kolkata in a much-expected clash at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Monday, April 8. All eyes will be on Ruturaj and his opening partner Rachin Ravindra as the young duo has failed in their last two matches, which came away from home.
“There’s no overly concerned nature about what’s going on. He’s a quality cricketer. It hasn’t worked out, but that’s the nature of high-octane cricket. You have to go out there and play with confidence. You have to go out and play with a degree of risk-taking,” Eric Simmons said ahead of CSK’s much-expected clash against KKR.
“And it will come. He’s that kind of person. He’s been really calm and focused on what he wants to do in this matter,” he added.
Simmons said that it would take time for Ruturaj and Rachin to build a relationship at the top and CSK are hopeful that the two batters fire in unison.
“I mean we had two really good starts in terms of the first two games and then perhaps not as good as we were in the next two. So again, it’s the nature of the game that we faced but I still think that we got two that complement each other well. It’s also that sort of, you build that relationship over time, they only batted together four times.
