Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming said Ruturaj Gaikwad’s renewed batting form has played a key role in bringing consistency to his decision-making as captain.
After enduring a lean run during the first half of the Indian Premier League, Gaikwad has bounced back strongly with unbeaten knocks of 74 and 67 in his last two outings. His resurgence has coincided with CSK winning three of their last five matches, helping them climb to sixth place in the points table.
"Yeah, he's getting better each game. It was a bit of a slow start as we were trying to form the bowling patterns at different grounds as we played away for the first couple of games. But the last few games he's been excellent," Fleming said after CSK beat Mumbai Indians by eight wickets on Saturday.
CSK's coach for the past 18 seasons also felt that Gaikwad's good show with the bat has also helped him gain confidence as a captain.
"One of the key things that helps your captaincy is batting well. And he's found a bit of form in the last two games. And that's, I think, coincided with some good decision-making. So managing those two and being positive about both if one's not working well is really important," Fleming said.
He admitted that Gaikwad the batter was under stress as he had failed to cross 30 in his first seven games.
"So he (Gaikwad) was under a lot of pressure. More so with the bat, but also it flows into questioning some of the captaincy," Fleming added.
Fleming was also happy that they could make the best use of an Impact Player by sending in Kartik Sharma at the right time and the Rs 14 crore plus worth youngster responded well with an unbeaten half-century in a 160-run chase.
"We knew there was going to be more than two or three overs of bounce and seam. So using the impact player in a positive way by getting a batter up early rather than waiting until 8 or 9 was different. But if he's going to make an impact, he's better than get him in there if it's going to be tough."
Kartik didn't make much of an impression in the first few games but things looked far better as he took control and dominated the MI bowling and even hit Hardik Pandya for a big six.
"He's a fine player and he was expensive in the auction because others see that as well. And tonight it was good to see the temperament as well as the skill on show. And he will just get better and better.
"So it's a nice spot (No.4) for him. And the timing was right. So we're really pleased and proud of what he did today," Fleming added.
(With inputs from PTI)
