“Everyone believed the wicket was slow, it was coming slow off the wicket, even low bounce,” Gaikwad said on the host broadcast after the win, which took CSK to No. 3 on the points table. “But with the start we got [CSK were 60 for 1 after the powerplay], we thought we could push till 180-200. But we lost two wickets in consecutive balls, and then we thought probably 160-170 would be a good score, or just par, here and there, ten runs short. But the way the wicket played in the second innings, definitely I’d say [167 was a] par score.”
“During the powerplay, the wicket always looks flat. But as the ball gets a little old, the ball doesn’t come on to the bat. Especially at a new venue, you don’t know what to expect. That’s why we felt we were 15-20 runs short but we bowled well in the powerplay and middle overs, didn’t bowl loose balls.”
“The previous night, or the night of the match, Pathirana slightly here and there, then some of the guys struggling with the flu as well, so not really sure till gameday morning who is playing and who is not”
Ruturaj Gaikwad
“I don’t know what he’s doing, but even the pre-season we had, he was clicking around 150s [kph] in practice,” Gaikwad said of Simrajeet.” That was one factor that we wanted to consider, but just the bowling options we had – we had Deepak [Chahar], we had Shardul [Thakur] sitting out initially; we had Tushar, who did really well last season, plus [Matheesha] Pathirana and Fizz [Mustafizur Rahman]… So he didn’t get too much chance.
“But nevertheless, nothing is late, and he got a game today. We were thinking of sending an impact batter but then we thought the impact batter might give 10-15 runs extra, but the kind of bowling he has, we might end up getting two-three wickets extra as well. Good for him, he has been working hard.”
Gaikwad admitted that too: “Sigh of relief with the things that were happening… the previous night, or the night of the match, Pathirana slightly here and there, then some of the guys struggling with the flu as well, so not really sure till gameday morning who is playing and who is not.”
Source: ESPN Crickinfo