Brad Hogg has advised the talented CSK opener Ruturaj Gaikwad to focus on playing for CSK now instead of thinking to play for India.
Follow Us
Former Australian spinner Brad Hogg has advised the talented CSK opener Ruturaj Gaikwad to focus on playing for CSK now instead of thinking to play for India. His comments came as the youngster has been struggling in recent times. He was in great form last year and finished as the leading run-getter of the tournament. But, this season, he has only scored 0, 1, 1 and 16 as CSK lost all four games so far.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Hogg said: “If Gaikwad is thinking of playing for India rather than what he can do for the team, he’s going to be found wanting. Because you can’t think like that. You’ve got to focus on what you’re doing now and let everything else take care of itself.”
READ MORE: IPL 2022 CSK vs RCB: Deepak Chahar ruled out of the tournament due to injury
Ruturaj Gaikwad amassed 635 runs in IPL 2021 and won the IPL Orange Cap as well. He had scored with an average of 45.35, where he also scored a century and four fifties as they clinched their fourth title. Hogg also explained CSK’s struggles by saying that they have been struggling in all three departments.
Brad Hogg said: “Simply, they are not batting, bowling or fielding well. All three departments, they are outplayed. We go to the top of the order first – Ruturaj Gaikwad. At present, he has had his struggles on the bouncier wickets up here in Mumbai. He doesn’t know whether to play the cut shot or backfoot drive; he is just flirting outside the off-stump and giving opportunities to the opposition teams. Also, remember he had a breakout season last year. Now opposition teams know that he’s had a couple of opportunities for India, so they’ll be better planned to bowl against him in those powerplay overs, and it’s working so far.”
READ MORE: ‘MS Dhoni should play as an opener towards the fag-end of his career‘
Hogg also added that a change in the opening combination might help Ruturaj Gaikwad, as last year he had opened with Faf du Plessis, who is a more experienced campaigner than Robin Uthappa. Moreover, Hogg also thinks Robin Uthappa should bat down the order instead of opening the innings for CSK.
“Also, he’s got a new opening combination where he is trying to get comfortable there. Faf du Plessis with more experience last year was able to bat through the innings, took a lot of pressure off Gaikwad, and now he’s trying to find that from Uthappa, who is opening with him. Uthappa is a fantastic batsman, but CSK would rather have him down the order than opening the batting. But because they don’t have that batting depth, they have to go with that particular combination,” Brad Hogg concluded.
