Skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad finds himself under growing scrutiny after Chennai Super Kings opened their campaign with back-to-back defeats, with the skipper yet to make a meaningful impact with the bat. After ending the previous season at the bottom of the table, CSK came into the Indian Premier League 2026 carrying the weight of expectations to bounce back strongly. However, the early signs haven’t been promising. The bowling attack has looked ineffective and struggled to pick up wickets at key moments, while the much-anticipated opening partnership of Gaikwad and Sanju Samson has failed to click so far, adding to the team’s concerns.
The arrival of Samson via a trade deal raised plenty of expectations, with the former Rajasthan Royals skipper seen as a long-term successor to MS Dhoni, who is nearing the end of his illustrious career. However, the wicketkeeper batter has also failed to fire in the first two matches. He had a brilliant T20 World Cup, where he played match-winning knocks in every knockout game for India and played a pivotal role in the historic triumph.
Adding another layer to Gaikwad’s early-season pressure, questions have now been raised over his equation with Samson, with Michael Vaughan and Simon Doull weighing in on whether the CSK skipper could feel under threat.
“What about the captain, Gaikwad? Do you think he feels threatened [by Samson]?” Vaughan asked Doull.
“Absolutely,” the ex-New Zealand seamer replied.
Continuing the discussion, Vaughan pointed to the delicate situation within Chennai Super Kings, noting how Samson’s arrival could quietly add pressure on skipper Gaikwad, even as the team continues to back him in the role.
“So that’s another kind of dynamic that you’re looking at,” Vaughan added. “[One of the league’s] youngest captains Gaikwad, he’s done it a bit now and you kind of go, ‘Go on, we’re gonna back you, you’re the captain. But by the way, we’re signing Sanju, who’s a very good captain and he’s a keeper. And guess what? We’ve had a keeper who was a captain for a long period of time and did very well, and we’re gonna try and replace him. But you carry on captaining and hope it doesn’t affect you,” he added.
Tough challenge for Samson
Doull further pointed to the added pressure on Samson following his high-profile move to CSK, stressing the expectations around the trade and the need to step up in familiar conditions.
“Tough challenge for him, and it’s one of those situations you find yourself in when you’re not desperate, but when you want to play for a certain side and you want to put on a show,” Doull said before Friday’s match against Punjab Kings. “I mean, he is a South boy, isn’t he? He is a Kerala boy. He wants to put on a show. I think he feels like he’s more at home. In the South, the trade happened; it was a big trade as we’ve talked about, you’ve lost 2 high quality players for one player. So the pressure’s quite enormous, the pressure of maybe what they see him as in the future as well. But he just got to think back to a few weeks ago, doesn’t he? And how was he playing in the last 3 games [in the T20 World Cup],” he added.
