Gaikwad one of the most talented players around: MS Dhoni

TIL Desk Sports/ Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was all praise for Ruturaj Gaikwad on Thursday after the 23-year-old opener scored a second consecutive half-century to lead his team to victory against the Kolkata Knight Riders in an Indian Premier League (IPL) clash between the two sides at the Dubai International Stadium.

“We’d seen him in the nets, but then he turned Covid positive and it took him 20 days to get back. Unfortunate, but he’ll remember this season,” said Dhoni in the post-match presentation ceremony in which Gaikwad won his second Player of the Match award on the trot.

“He’s one of the most talented players around. What makes it difficult is he’s not somebody who speaks a lot. So sometimes it becomes difficult for the management to gauge a player. Once he started going in the innings, you could see that he was hitting the ball the way he wants.

“When we made him play the first game, he got out after stepping out. It was difficult to tell whether it was pressure that made him step out or whether that’s his natural game. One ball isn’t enough,” Dhoni said.