Touted to be one of the better top order batsmen in India, Maharashtra’s Ruturaj Gaikwad was first signed in the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) in IPL 2020, playing for Chennai Super Kings. He had a few failures at the start of the season but ended the tournament with three consecutive fifties and we knew then that there was something special about this young lad.
Read Scoops first spoke to him before that IPL 2020 season and you can read that exclusive interview here. Going into IPL 2021, he was one of the leading run scorers for them as well, along with his opening partner Faf du Plessis. One particular night of 2nd October 2021 in Abu Dhabi is a night he won’t ever forget, where he brought up his maiden IPL century in IPL 2021 Match 47, against Rajasthan Royals.
Put in to bat by the Royals, CSK lost a couple of wickets early but Gaikwad held on to one side, scoring runs at ease. A small man by stature, he started pushing some brilliant balls to the boundary, and hit a few muscular sixes as well. During the innings, he also brought up his fourth fifty of IPL 2021, along with overtaking everyone else on the Orange Cap list, becoming the first to 500 runs in the season.
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However, it’s not the Orange Cap or 500 runs in the season that will be memorable for him. It’s the fact that he went on to score his highest knock in his short IPL career so far, while also scoring his first ever IPL century. A night he won’t forget anytime soon, Gaikwad entertained one and all with a total of 9 fours and 5 sixes during his innings.
You think of people like Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell and Rohit Sharma to hit the big sixes, and you’d not expect a tiny man like Ruturaj Gaikwad to hit 100-meter sixes. However, he gave us plenty of surprises on this day, and we’re sure there’s plenty more to come from his bat. His brilliant timing today allowed CSK to get up to a score of 189/4 in their quota of 20 overs in the second game of the day’s double header.
A team that usually hasn’t boasted of big hitters and personal records over the years, it was a long while before this day that a CSK batsman went on to get an IPL century. It was May 2018 that Shane Watson scored his fourth and final century for the franchise he did so well for. Moreover, it was a special one because he scored it in the IPL 2018 final, which you can read about here.
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He got into the list of all-time IPL centuries and we’re sure there’s going to be a few more of the bat of this special, young talent. He went on to collect the Orange Cap and he spoke about how personal records didn’t matter, as there was a chance he wouldn’t be able to reach his century. Ravindra Jadeja was going berserk at the other end and left Gaikwad only two balls to get 5 runs for his century.
It looked highly unlikely after Mustafizur Rahman bowled a good bouncer and Gaikwad wasn’t able to score of it. Needed 5 runs off the final ball of the innings, Gaikwad smashed another six and got to this milestone with a great shot. His first T20 hundred came up in style and he pumped his fists as soon as he hit it! For more updates on top IPL centuries, stay tuned to ReadScoops.com…
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