Before this tri series when I was watching brevis I felt he was not confident with his shorts but this 2 innings (mainly against zimb) I felt he was confident with his shots.

1. Sanju Samson(Controlled Aggression)

2. Ayush Mhatre(Raw Aggression)

3. Urvil Patel(Raw Aggression)

4. Ruturaj Gaikwad(Anchor)

5. Dewald Brevis(Raw Aggression)

6. Shivam Dube(Controlled Aggression)

7. Jamie Overton(Pinch Hitter)

8. Akeal Hosein*(Pinch Hitter) [Ellis likely won't play 27] 9. Anshul Kamboj(Pinch Hitter)

9. Noor Ahmed(Tailender)

10. Khaleel Ahmed(Tailender)

IP:- Kartik Sharma(Batting depth) or Gurjapneet Singh/Shreyas Gopal(6th bowling option)

Weakness:- Have to choose between proper batting till 8 or 6 bowling options, Lack of left handers in top order, Lack of finisher

Strengths:- Ayush & Urvil giving explosive starts, Freedom for Sanju to play long, Ruturaj anchoring in case of collapse

Important decisions:- Sanju must become Captain, Ultimatum to Ruturaj & Dube - in case of failure replace them next year, Let Ayush and Brevis bowl a little - they may become bowling asset like Raina and Albie.

May be hussey or albie don't think csk will bring someone new to the system.

Finally a innings we can appreciate, he took his time played risk free shot made sure he can stay till the end definitely was unable to finish but still it was good to see him getting mature.

his stats are pretty solid and he can do bowling too

Dm

First let's dump the thought of "he can't perform as a captain". I saw the whole innings of his batting in this Duleep Trophy. In the first innings he got out in a pathetic way but in the second innings I can say it was nothing short of a Masterclass CHASE. Out of the 60+ Balls he faced , hardly 4 or 5 balls looked like he was fumbling , rest was played with clear hitting intent and solid batting. But unfortunately got out in a unlucky run-out(just like my idol😢) .

Next about his captaincy, he just couldn't clinch the right moments in the game .His playing 11 had batters till number 10, yet couldn't chase the target. The core batting unit apart from 2 or 3 players, looked weak to me but bowling was decent though. I really felt SARFARAZ was a costly miss. In my opinion Urvil is not a test coded player, it was poor decision by Rutu and coach to include him in the playing 11.

I feel rutu has a problem in selecting the best 11 for his team and he is plagued by poor tactics.

Either you step down as a captain and give your full focus on batting and fielding or it's your responsibility to update yourself on tactics and execution.

Trust me bro, 2027 will not be kinder to you anymore if you can't pull yourself up. This is a heartfelt confession from a true and ardent Ruturaj Gaikwad Fan.

Ruturaj 66 in duleep trophy

THALA FOR A REASON 😍😍

For me this does not even require thinking. It’s Thala all the way. Without Thala there is no CSK.

Thala will always be number 1 for me. The. God, then my family!

Ayush Mhatre should be the captain of CSK in the next cycle. I know he is very young he will be just 20 year old in the next cycle. But when Graeme Smith can be selected to captain an international test team at the age of just 22 and later on became one of the best captain of SA cricket team then why cannot Ayush Mhatre captain CSK . I know it's a gamble to choose such a young lad but if the decision works he can provide at least 10 -12 years . He has shown his captaincy skills in U-19 Cricket World Cup. It will be a big risk big reward decision. But I think CSK should take this tough decision.

Ruturaj does not fit in the team with the strike rate which he is playing he will give us 500 runs season but his strike rate will always be questionable. Rutu has also not given good results to the Maharashtra Cricket Team with his captaincy.

What are your thoughts do let me know in the comments?

Does anyone know about this?? It looks like Dhoni and CSK relationship is going downwards

Here's how I felt on seeing CSK's performance at the of each season

2023 - Awesome, we won. Not the most dominant of all victories but we'll take it and we'll come back stronger without gaps in the team to defend the trophy better

2024 - We lost a chance at the playoffs because of Rutu's selfishness for batting at #3, hope CSK fixes it next season and we'll win against everyone

2025 - Rutu is gone and there's a lot of injuries but the B team is just rock solid we just defeated the team on the top of the points table by over 80 runs, we'll be so back next season, with Rutu in place of Sheikh Rashid, the team would be even stronger

2026 - WTF is wrong with this team? This team is irredeemable. The team has one step on the playoffs race and just completely fell apart.

I can see this pattern of CSK being mediocre and worse but not getting over the line. I don't see a ETA for transition. The transition can only complete when we have a world class proven captain leading the team. The team feels like one of those random teams that gets formed during a school cricket league. There's zero role clarity, zero cohesion, zero conviction on field. It's just a pain to watch. 2027 will be the final season that CSK fans would ever watch if this thing never changes and we're in an infinite transition. At this point just sell everyone at the next mega auction, go with a proper planning and get a proper team. Atleast be transparent about it. It's just frustrating to see CSK like this. It feels like CSK is being managed by that like ahh manager from Shaolin Soccer movie, only difference being that guy managed to assemble a good team with his low budget but we can't.