Gaikwad, Conway, and Simarjeet reflect on the reason behind CSK’s poor run in IPL 2022

Chennai Super Kings had a turbulent run in the Indian Premier League 2022. The four-time champions failed to make an impact in an attempt to defend the title. Instead, it was a season to forget for the Super Kings as they ended up at the second-last place in the points table after winning just four of their 14 league matches.

There were many factors behind the Super Kings' downfall, including a failed attempt at transition in the leadership from MS Dhoni to Ravindra Jadeja. The CSK players, including Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, and Simarjeet Singh, spoke candidly about what went wrong with the franchise after a successful run last season.

Opening batter Gaikwad was quite honest about his views as he didn't hesitate while stating poor performance as one of the reasons behind the team's downfall.

Ruturaj, who was the hero for the team last year, failed to weave the same magic again. The batter ended up with only 368 runs in 14 games at a dismal average of 26.28. 

"Many people would be saying that we did not have luck going our way or we did not have things going our way. I would be very honest and tell them that we did not play to our expectations. But, as I said, we have to accept things and move forward. You (CSK fans) have our backs. We will come out of this year really stronger next year," Gaikwad said on CSK TV.

Conway was one of the revelations for the Super Kings in IPL 2022. After a horrible start, the batter was dropped from the side. However, he returned back to the playing XI towards the end of the tournament and delivered some headline performances. The New Zealand opener ended the season with 252 runs at an average of 42 and a strike rate of 145.7.

Speaking about the franchise, the 30-year-old highlighted that its' time for them to move on from the loss and come up with better performance as a unit in the next season. 

"We all know it wasn't quite our year this time. We can accept that and move on. We will bounce back next year. It's not because of lack of trying or practice, we just didn't quite play at our best this year. Things will be better next year, for sure," Conway added. 

The young CSK pacer Simarjeet Singh also echoed the sentiments of his teammates. The 24-year-old mentioned that they will learn from their defeat to make a strong comeback. Notably, Dhoni will be again seen leading the side in the 2023 edition. 

"When you lose, even if the process that you followed was the right one, you tend to question it. In hindsight, you feel as if you could have done things in a different way. But, we all are trying to learn something from this. From every game, if we try to extract as many learnings as possible, that will hold us in good stead," Singh told CSK TV.