After Chennai Super Kings: After Chennai Super Kings slumped to their third consecutive loss in the IPL 2026, former South Africa batter Faf du Plessis rallied behind skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad to become a better player and a leader after going through hardships.
Sunday's loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) was Gaikwad's seven consecutive losses as a CSK captain. He joined RCB star Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh in this unwanted list. While Kohli lost across the 2018 and 2019 IPL seasons as the RCB captain, Yuvraj lost in 2013 with the (now defunct) Pune Warriors India.
"It is not easy as a young captain to suffer back-to-back defeats. Not performing yourself makes things even more difficult as a player. What he will experience right now is the weight of pressure. Expectation when you put on a yellow shirt comes at a cost. The fans expect good performances.
"They expect the team to be in the semi-finals and finals and to win trophies. So, for him, it is just a case of dealing with that early in his captaincy career. Every good captain has to go through this in their career," Du Plessis said on JioStar.
"It is not easy as a young captain to suffer back-to-back defeats. Not performing yourself makes things even more difficult as a player. What he will experience right now is the weight of pressure. Expectation when you put on a yellow shirt comes at a cost. The fans expect good performances.
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The Ruturaj Gaikwad-led side will next take on Delhi Capitals on April 11 in Chennai.