Ravichandran Ashwin, the former CSK spinner, in an interview, praised Ruturaj Gaikwad as a fabulous batter and linked his disappointing form this season to the immense pressure that has come along with leading CSK. With the constant comparisons that come with MS Dhoni, the role becomes more intense for him and creates a blockade in his head that stops an individual from expressing himself fully on the field, said the former CSK player.
He also urged the fans to give him his space of mind and let him be expressive about his own way of leading the franchise.
On a video interview with ESPN Cricinfo, the former spinner said, “With respect to leadership, it is never going to be easy. He’s been living in the shadow of MS Dhoni. With the increasing amount
of fandom that’s happening in the IPL day by day, to the point where the debate about players from franchises representing their national sides. I think Ruturaj is a fabulous batter, but there is a blockade in his head that is not letting him express himself fully on the field.”
“I think he is very new to leadership and has not previously led many teams at his age. So it is very important to give him critical space. There are many new ways of leadership,” he concluded.
R Ashwin on what it's like for Ruturaj Gaikwad to captain CSK in Dhoni's shadow pic.twitter.com/tbINxvzifT
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) May 2, 2026
Ruturaj Gaikwad’s disappointing form continues in IPL 2026
With just an average of 13.67 this season, Ruturaj has found himself in trouble this IPL season. In a season dominated by high-scoring encounters, Ruturaj’s form leaves him in his worst season of IPL. Also, CSK’s inconsistency in performance has put his captaincy under scrutiny.
Read More: Ruturaj Gaikwad Captaincy Records
In the game against GT, although he scored a 50 off 49 balls at the Chepauk, his innings entered the history books for all the wrong reasons.
This was one of the slowest fifties in the current IPL 2026 season and also the slowest after the impact sub era since 2023. The previous slowest 50 this IPL season was Rishabh Pant’s 43-ball fifty that came against SRH.
This was also amongst the slowest fifties by CSK players alongside Parthiv Patel and Murali Vijay. Although his innings of 74 off 60 balls did help CSK to put up a score of 158, the batting display got more into a cautious zone rather than an aggressive style that questions his approach in modern T20 cricket.
As rightly pointed out by Ashwin, it is the mind game and immense pressure that is affecting his natural game.
