Lucknow, May 16 (IANS) Ruturaj Gaikwad admitted that Chennai Super Kings endured an “off-day” with the ball after their seven-wicket defeat to Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow on Friday, but insisted the five-time champions still remain firmly in the hunt for an IPL 2026 playoff berth.

CSK find themselves in a precarious position of having 12 points from 12 matches. They are already in must-win territory for the remainder of their league encounters and have to be dependent on other results going their way as well. Having already been knocked out,LSG gaveChennai a major setback with a ruthless chase that was piloted by the duo of Mitchell Marsh and Josh Inglis. Taking lessons from this loss, Gaikwad admitted that the bowlers could not stick to the plans consistently.

“Bowling had an off-day today,” Gaikwad said after the match. “The first challenge is getting to Chennai and make sure we improve on the areas we need to improve, and then adapt and assess the conditions [in the remaining two league games].”

Despite the setback, the CSK captain maintained that qualification remains achievable and refused to panic over the team’s position in the points table. “It is simple [playoff hopes], nothing complicated,” Gaikwad said.

“Nothing to worry about, just ensure we have a good day and hope that we turn things around.”

CSK put up a good score given they felt this would be a much lower-scoring game. But once LSG’s aggressive intent came through it was difficult for CSK to stem the run rate.

Gaikwad believed the pitch gave enough assistance to the pacemen but it was a credit to the Lucknow batters that they managed to pick their scoring chances.

“There was a bit of something for the fast bowlers. Found it difficult to hit it off a hard length,” he explained.

“We were looking at 160-170, and got 180. Nothing much better we could have done from a batting point of view.”

Marsh and Inglis added a dominant opening stand that effectively killed the chase early, with both batters taking on the short-ball strategy employed by Chennai’s bowlers.

Gaikwad said CSK had specific plans against the two overseas batters but admitted the execution fell short under pressure.

“They (LSG) batted well and played some extraordinary shots,” Gaikwad said.

“We were looking [to bowl the short ball] but [Josh] Inglis played differently in the last game, and Marsh plays the short ball well, so we were trying to hit a hard length.”

Ultimately, the Chennai skipper accepted that LSG simply outplayed his side on the night. “We missed on execution but they played extraordinary shots,” he said.

“Sometimes the opposition can play good cricket than you, and you have to accept it.”

–IANS

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