Former Indian batter Subramaniam Badrinath has questioned Ruturaj Gaikwad’s captaincy ahead of Chennai Super Kings’ second match against Punjab Kings in IPL 2026. CSK, the previous season’s wooden spooners, suffered a hammering eight-wicket loss in their opening clash of IPL 2026 against Rajasthan Royals at Guwahati.

Gaikwad, who opened the innings with Sanju Samson, was dismissed after scoring six runs off 11 balls. The flamboyant batter was ruled out of the majority of the previous season, and thus, MS Dhoni led in his place.

CSK was bowled out for only 127 runs against the inaugural champions as their batting failed to deliver on Monday.

Badrinath said on his YouTube Channel, “His captaincy has been a big question mark. The side’s energy seemed very low in the last match. His decisions are also questionable. And his captaincy record is also not good.”

On the other hand, Badrinath praised Shreyas Iyer’s captaincy for the Punjab Kings. PBKS started their season with a three-wicket win against Gujarat Titans at New Chandigarh. The Mohali-based franchise had qualified for the previous season’s final but could not cross the last hurdle against RCB.

“He (Iyer) is thriving as a captain. PBKS look like a well-oiled machine under him, with the Indian youngsters firing. Even the foreign youngsters seem to be firing like Cooper Connolly in the last match. Punjab Kings will be a force to be reckoned with, and CSK has to play really good cricket to beat them,” said Badrinath (via the aforementioned source).

Iyer scored 604 runs in 17 matches of IPL 2025 at an average of 50.33 and a strike rate of 175.07. 

CSK and PBKS will take on each other at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, on Friday.