I want to start with 2020 because that is where this story truly begins. MS Dhoni looked at a group of youngsters and said he did not see enough spark in them. One of those youngsters was Ruturaj Gaikwad. I remember thinking at the time that those words would either break him or build him. What happened next was one of the great individual responses in IPL history, Ruturaj Gaikwad won the Orange Cap in 2021 with 635 runs, won the title in the same season, and turned Dhoni's doubt into the most powerful fuel imaginable. That felt like the beginning of a dynasty. What is happening in 2026 feels like something else entirely. The numbers tell a troubling story for CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad in IPL 2026 I keep going back to these two lines and they genuinely disturb me. Average of 58.8 across 14 innings at his peak. Average of 18.9 across the last 13. That is not a lean patch. That is a structural collapse. And in IPL 2026 it has gotten worse, scores of 6, 28, 7, 15 and 7 across five innings, an average of 12.60, a dot ball percentage of 38.4 percent in a format where the game has gone nuclear with strike rates and intent. Recently Ruturaj Gaikwad fall for 7 off 6 balls against KKR at Chepauk today , miscuing a slog-sweep off Anukul Roy in the third over, and I thought to myself, that is not the Ruturaj Gaikwad we all know. The elbow injury from 2025 has left a visible mark on his bat-swing. It looks stiff where it once looked fluid. It looks laboured where it once looked effortless. The timing that made Ruturaj Gaikwad unplayable between 2021 and 2023 has gone somewhere and I genuinely do not know if it is coming back this season. The Sanju Samson problem nobody is saying loudly enough I will say it plainly because I think it needs to be said. The Sanju Samson trade was supposed to strengthen CSK. Instead it has created the most uncomfortable internal contrast in the franchise's recent history. Samson has already hit a 115 not out off 56 balls this season and has been operating at a strike rate above 172. Ruturaj Gaikwad is struggling to clear the 30-yard circle. They open together. The crowd at Chepauk can see it every single game. I am not saying Samson should be captain, that is a separate conversation, but I am saying that the visual of these two men at the crease together right now is not helping the scrutiny that Ruturaj Gaikwad is already under. And when your captain is the one making the game feel slower, that becomes a tactical problem that no amount of loyalty or history can paper over. Also READ: Pat Cummins' return date revealed: Here is when the SRH captain will join IPL 2026 Captaincy and authority under pressure Not too long ago Ruturaj Gaikwad said "there is only one boss" in reference to Dhoni. I understand the sentiment and I respect the reverence, but I also think that kind of deference, however genuine, does not project the authority a captain needs when his team is sitting ninth in the table and his own form is in freefall. Ruturaj Gaikwad was handed the captaincy as Dhoni's chosen successor. He had it taken away by injury in 2025, had to watch Dhoni lead again from the sidelines, and has come back in 2026 trying to reclaim both his form and his authority simultaneously. That is an enormous weight to carry. I think it might be too much right now. CSK have not made the playoffs in two years. Ayush Mhatre is striking at 180 at three when in fact he's an opener. The conversations that are happening in the stands at Chepauk are getting louder and less sympathetic than they used to be. A defining phase for Ruturaj Gaikwad I want Ruturaj Gaikwad to succeed. I genuinely do. He proved Dhoni wrong once and built something real from that doubt. But I look at the 2026 season and I see a 29-year-old veteran who looks technically compromised, tactically constrained and emotionally burdened in a way that is affecting everything around him. He does not need sympathy right now. He needs runs. Big ones, ugly ones, however they come. Because if the scores of 6, 7, 7 and 15 continue, the conversation is going to shift from "when will he find form" to "can CSK afford to keep waiting for him." And that is a conversation I do not think anyone at this franchise is ready to have yet.