On the eve of the IPL 2024 opener, MS Dhoni stepped down as Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain and handed over the leadership baton to opening batter Ruturaj Gaikwad.

In his maiden season as skipper, Gaikwad has impressed many with his captaincy skills. Under his leadership, the defending champions have won five out of 10 matches in the ongoing season so far. However, winning coin tosses is turning out to be an absolute nightmare for the new CSK skipper.

On Wednesday (May 1), Gaikwad lost his ninth coin flip in 10 matches this season. As it turned out, Punjab Kings exploited the toss result and conditions brilliantly at Chepauk to hand CSK a seven-wicket thrashing.

After the game, Ruturaj Gaikwad admitted that he's under pressure while coming out for the coin flips.

"I've practiced the tosses (during the practice sessions), it's not going well in the match, not sure what to do. To be truthful, I'm under pressure when I go to the middle (for the toss), not at the game," said Ruturaj in the post-match presentation.

Invited to bat first, the hosts managed to post 162/7 on the board and PBKS overhauled the target with 13 deliveries to spare.

Gaikwad mentioned his side was around 50-60 runs short and dew factor also helped Punjab during their chase.

"Probably 50-60 runs short, the pitch wasn't great when we batted, it got better later on. With the impact rule as well, we were well short.

"Very difficult (on defending 162 in dew). Even in the last game, we were quite surprised that we would win by that much margin. This is something we can't control. We can slightly bat better in the first innings. In the last 2 games, we tried our best to get 200-210. This pitch it was tough to get 180," the CSK captain remarked.

Despite the loss, CSK occupy the fourth spot on the points table featuring 10 teams. They will face Punjab Kings again on May 5, but this time as visitors in Dharamsala.