IPL 2025: Speaking to India Today during a virtual press conference, former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson, now a JioStar expert, spoke about Ruturaj Gaikwad's captaincy for Chennai Super Kings. The former CSK opener defended the youngster despite their poor start to the season.
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00:00I just want to ask you, this is kind of the second year for Ruturaj Gaipad as Chennai
00:09Super Kings captain.
00:10Where do you think probably he needs to improve and do you think there are holes that can
00:15be addressed in terms of his captaincy?
00:17And what's his obsession with him not giving spinners the full quota of overs in Chennai?
00:25First of all, when it comes to Ruturaj's captaincy, he's relatively a young captain and he would
00:31have learnt a hell of a lot from last season.
00:34He's got two of the best leaders in world cricket over the last probably 30 years helping
00:42him and guiding him.
00:43We've seen Fleming who was obviously an incredible captain and leader tactically and just a man
00:49manager as a captain but now as a coach.
00:51We've also got MSD who is obviously one of the best captains.
00:56So the learning for Ruturaj, he couldn't get a better environment to be able to learn but
01:01it's not until you're out in the middle and he's, it would have taken him a year at least
01:05to be able to navigate, well how am I going to get the best out of me and the information
01:10and the knowledge I have with the preparation that I do?
01:12But then also leaning on MSD when I need to, leaning on Stephen Fleming in the strategic
01:17timeouts when I need to.
01:18So having that, it's just going to take some time for him to be able to know exactly how
01:23to be able to make the most of all those incredible resources that he's got.
01:27And with what I've continued to see, he's just getting better and better and he's continuing
01:31to learn as he goes because that's the type of person that Ruturaj is.
01:35So he's just going to get better and better the more experience he has.
01:38What was the second part of the question?
01:41Spin, doesn't he, in a couple of matches he didn't complete the full coat of spinners?
01:47Yeah, that's, look, that is always going to be interesting how he manages his spinners,
01:52especially back home in Chennai when the ball is turning.
01:57But the one thing that you do know as captain, it's not just your decision alone.
02:01Because there's two strategic timeouts, there's a lot of preparation that goes into a game
02:07as well and the information that he'll be given.
02:09Yes, he is the one making the final decision on the field, but there will be a lot,
02:15a number of people giving him the right information as well.
02:18So it would be more of a collective decision of whether he should bowl the spinners out
02:23or whether he should sort of go more to the quick bowlers.
02:25So I certainly wouldn't just put the microscope on Ruturaj when it comes to making those decisions
02:33because he would definitely be getting feedback from those incredible leaders that he's got
02:39around him to be able to then make the decision that's happening in the game as well.
02:43For more information visit www.fema.gov