Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad recently opened up about his batting position in the ongoing Indian Premier League. The CSK management decided to send Gaikwad at number three this season, despite him being a regular opener for most of his career. Last year, Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra formed a successful opening pair for the team. However, this season, CSK's openers have struggled significantly. In the three matches played so far, the team's highest opening partnership has been just 11 runs, which came against the Mumbai Indians. Against RCB, they managed only eight, and in the match against the Rajasthan Royals, Rachin Ravindra was dismissed for a duck. Gaikwad, who has been highly consistent as an opener, has an impressive average of 44, with 2,289 runs from 61 matches. Speaking at the post-match presentation about his role at number three, Gaikwad revealed that the decision was made during the auction as part of the team's plan to strengthen the middle order. "Over the years, we had Ajinkya batting at 3 and Rayudu taking care of the middle order. We thought it is better I come back one step. Till now, no discussions have happened about me batting at three. It was decided during the auction time, and I was convinced about that. I have no problem. I can take risks, rotate strike when needed - that is what you want when you have Shivam," he said. Taking a light dig at the team's poor opening partnerships this season, Gaikwad added that his batting position hardly makes a difference since he ends up coming to the crease early anyway. "Not much difference anyway, so I am getting to bat in the first or second over itself," he remarked. He pointed out that once the batting unit starts clicking, CSK will be a far better side. "We have not been able to get good starts. Once we get that going, we will be a really good batting unit," he added. A lot of positives in the bowling While CSK's batting has been inconsistent, Gaikwad praised the bowling unit, highlighting several positives in that department. Read: Riyan Parag on choosing Sandeep Sharma over Archer for final over vs CSK Noor Ahmad, who has picked up nine wickets so far, currently holds the Purple Cap, while Khaleel Ahmed sits in third place on the list with six wickets. "Lots of positives in the bowling. Noor, as usual, is bowling well. Khaleel is bowling well. Jadeja bhai bowled well. You need that sort of momentum in the bowling department when you get a wicket to build pressure," he said. However, Gaikwad was critical of CSK’s fielding, which has been subpar this season. "Once fielding comes together, we will be a really good side," he stated. Chennai Super Kings will now return to Chennai, where they are set to host Delhi Capitals in their next match on April 5.