Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad admitted that his team struggled to read the pitch conditions at Chepauk, which played a major role in their defeat against Gujarat Titans in IPL 2026.

Following the loss, Gaikwad pointed out that the surface behaved unpredictably, with inconsistent pace and bounce making it difficult for batters to settle. He revealed that CSK had initially targeted a total between 170 and 180, but regular wickets in the middle overs derailed their plans.

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“Yes, to be honest, sometimes I hate to assess in that way, but I felt it was challenging. I was holding a bit for the pacers; the pace was inconsistent, and the bounce was up and down. But if we hadn’t lost too many wickets, we could’ve reached 170-180. Not expected to be honest, it’s tough to assess the conditions here. In the last three matches, we learned how the game would play out. We had a 60-70% chance in the last two or three games, but we didn’t expect it to play like this today. We just couldn’t adapt to the conditions. In the first timeout, I told Flem that I was trying to be positive and aggressive. But at times, the ball popped out with inconsistent bounce,” Gaikwad said after the match.

He further explained how early wickets hurt the team’s momentum and made it difficult to build partnerships. Despite getting a good start himself, Gaikwad said the team failed to maintain stability in the batting order.

“You couldn’t judge, and you couldn’t expect it to turn out well. We were lethargic and didn’t start well, but we needed to do better. I got off to a good start (10 off 6), I thought I would keep the momentum, but then we saw 3 wickets fall while we were trying to build a partnership. Another wicket fell, and I wanted to take my time. For any other pitch, I might’ve rotated the strike better. Once I got hit, I just thought I would take my chances and get some momentum back. We were batting really well; if we hadn’t lost two quick wickets, Mukesh would’ve come in the second innings. But we lost two wickets quickly, which is why we opted for an impact player,” he added.

In the match, Chennai Super Kings managed to post 158/7, which proved insufficient as Gujarat Titans chased down the target comfortably. Sai Sudharsan led the run chase with a fluent half-century, supported by Shubman Gill and Jos Buttler as GT secured an eight-wicket win with 20 balls to spare.

The Gujarat Titans’ top-order executed the chase with precision, helping the team register their fourth win of the season and move up to fifth place in the points table.

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