Mumbai. Ruturaj Gaikwad’s performance in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 has now come under serious question. The average of this star opener of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is the lowest among all the openers in the current season. Even though Chennai won against Mumbai on Thursday, Gaikwad’s form has now become a tension for the team.

In the match against Mumbai Indians at Wankhede Stadium on Thursday, Rituraj Gaikwad hit 3 fours and 1 six in 14 balls and scored 22 runs. He seemed to be in good form, but was caught by Tilak Verma on the ball of Allah Ghazanfar.

Till now, Rituraj has scored only 104 runs in 7 innings, in which his average was 14.85 and strike rate was 119.54. His scores were 6(11), 28(22), 7(3), 15(18), 7(6), 19(13), 22(14). It is clear from these figures that he is neither able to play big innings nor give a fast start to the team. If compared with other openers of IPL 2026, the picture looks even more worrying. So their average is even worse.

Only 63 runs in 5 matches, Rituraj’s form increased CSK’s tension

14.8- Ruturaj (104 runs)

16.2- Finn Allen (81 runs)

22.5- Sai Sudarshan (135 runs)

22.7- Pathum Nissanka (136 runs)

24.8- Ajinkya Rahane (124 runs)

That means Rituraj is at the bottom of this list. His struggle continued even in the MI vs CSK match played at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. This is a matter of concern for CSK because Ruturaj has been a reliable opener of the team for a long time. But his current form in IPL 2026 is having a big impact on the team’s strategy.

Talking about the match, in the match held on Thursday, Sanju Samson from Chennai scored unbeaten 101 runs to take CSK to 207/6. In response, MI team was reduced to 104 runs, which became their biggest defeat in IPL history. Akil Hussain (4/17) and Noor Ahmed (2/23) bowled brilliantly. The efforts of Tilak Verma and Suryakumar Yadav were inadequate.