Ruturaj Gaikwad’s CSK captaincy career to witness early demise as Rishabh Pant marches to Chennai?

Things have not been ideal lately if you are Ruturaj Gaikwad. First, he wasn’t considered as T20I captain when an Indian team full of IPL stars went on a Zimbabwe tour. Gaikwad, who led the nation to the Asian Games last year, could’ve added to his resume of three matches as India captain. However, the management chose Shubman Gill, who led the team to a 4-1 result.

Tough phase going for Gaikwad

Then, from a potential T20I captain, Gaikwad was snubbed and wasn’t picked for the upcoming white-ball tour against Sri Lanka. This came despite his great outings against Zimbabwe, where he scored runs at a strike rate of 158.3, even with batting at different positions.

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However, while securing a place in the national team is part and parcel of a player, a major bombshell dropped on Saturday (July 20). The development of Rishabh Pant leaving Delhi Capitals (DC) to join the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), might be a worrying news for Ruturaj Gaikwad fans.

Gaikwad era stopped before starting?

It was only on the eve of IPL 2024 when CSK sneakily announced Gaikwad as their new skipper, with MS Dhoni swiftly passing the baton to the talismanic opener, who embarked his journey in IPL 2020. Since then, Gaikwad has been a cornerstone for the five-time champions, hammering 2380 runs in just 65 matches. It was at the captain’s day when Dhoni quietly stepped back to hand the leadership role to Gaikwad.

However, with now Rishabh Pant potentially coming in to CSK, a real question arises – what about Gaikwad, the captain? Although CSK didn’t have an ideal campaign, finishing fifth, the franchise has a long-term captain on their hands. However, if Pant joins, he would certainly ask the captaincy role.

Although Pant’s pedigree as a skipper is a topic in itself. However, with him being a far more experienced player at the highest level, and an out-and-out match-winner, any management’s first-choice captaincy option would be Pant. This would leave Gaikwad in a perplexing state, on whether to once again play under a s’keeper’ or move on from the franchise altogether.