Half ton, full confidence!

CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad during his unbeaten 67 against KKR in Chennai on Monday. Pic/PTI

Chennai Super Kings skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad's unbeaten 58-ball 67 against Kolkata Knight Riders in Monday's IPL game here will not only make him a confident batter, but also an assured captain, feels World Cup-winning former England skipper Eoin Morgan.

Gaikwad, who has taken over leadership duties from the legendary Mahendra Singh Dhoni this season, had scores of 15, one, 46 and 26 in the first four games before striking big against KKR on Monday. It was his first half-century of the current season.

"This innings [67' v KKR] will build a huge amount of belief and confidence for him [Gaikwad] in his game.

Eoin Morgan

Playing an innings like this, early in the tournament will give him a lot of reassurance on his decision-making and pass on a message to the team," Morgan, a JioCinema TATA IPL expert, said on Tuesday. Morgan, who had led KKR to the final of the 2021 IPL, was happy to see the CSK skipper in sublime touch.

"He is a classy player, we have seen that for a long time now and it is great to see him in such touch. He had a great game, right from the toss to captaincy decisions, getting the spinners on after the powerplay, he was exceptional today. "

Among other experts, former India pacer RP Singh lauded Ravindra Jadeja for bowling with exceptional control. "The best part about Jadeja's bowling is he bowls at a good length and the pace at which he bowled today was great. He left no doubt as to who the best performer of the match was - took a couple of catches, got three wickets, and gave an all-round performance," he said.

RP's former India teammate Robin Uthappa praised Daryl Mitchell for slowly fitting into the shoes of Ambati Rayudu, who was stellar during his time at CSK. "This is what you want from a player coming in at No. 3, playing the role that Ambati Rayudu did for CSK, playing aggressively, maintaining the momentum of the game while building important partnerships for the team, and he [Mitchell] played that role well today. He was very pro-active in his innings. Before this knock, he took a bit more time, but today he adjusted the attack and took the pressure off Gaikwad," said Uthappa.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever