Chennai Super Kings (CSK) openers Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad talked about their experience of playing under MS Dhoni and about the status of his knee injury in the IPL 2023. CSK defeated Delhi Capitals on Saturday to confirm their spot in the playoffs.
They will clash with Gujarat Titans in the Qualifier 1 in Chennai on May 23.
Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway have revealed that MS Dhoni’s knee is okay and they would love their captain to play for at least five more years in the yellow.
“He has played so much cricket and is highly respected. If the person of that magnitude has your backing and you know he believes in you it gives you so much confidence as a player. We are very lucky to have Mahi bhai in the group. Hopefully, this is not his last season. He has got at least five years in him. His knee is all good,” Conway told his opening partner Gaikwad in a video posted by IPL.
Ruturaj, who is playing his fourth season under the captaincy of MS Dhoni echoed his opening partner’s views.
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He said: “To be honest. I am just grateful to be able to play fifty games under him. If I look back at the journey, right from the first game, until now he has been the same. There’s no difference. He is humble, he is open for talks. To have that confidence of him behind me I know that whatever he is saying and I can go and ask anything I want. It is exactly what a youngster needs in the dressing room.
The pair has been crucial to CSK's play-off qualification this season. Gaikwad has amassed 504 runs in as many appearances while Conway has racked up 585 runs in 13 innings, including six fifty-scores.
Conway explained the reasons behind their successful opening combination.
He said: “I think a couple of things that help us in our partnership. One is the communication. I like to talk a lot in the middle. Then I think the left-right combination certainly helps us in the partnership. If I am stalling at one end I know that you are going to be smashing at the other and vice versa.
These are the little things that I love about our batting and obviously you are very calm and relaxed in the middle.”
The CSK players conducted a goodbye stroll after playing their final league game at the Chepauk, but they will play their qualifying match against the defending champion Gujarat Titans there in a few days.
“It’s a tradition. We always do the farewell walk after the last game of the league. I was always telling myself that we are coming back here. We are going to play in the playoffs. Every game in this season has been a home game for us but playing at Chepauk where there is almost 99% CSK fans is always great,” he said.
(Indian Express inputs)
