At Abu dhabi
on the day of the man who preached non-violence, this youngster slaughtered
Rajasthan Royals – peppered with 5 sixers and 9 fours. In fact, in the last over – Ravindra Jadeja
was swatting Mustafizur for 4,6,4 but many of us were not wanting them and were
pleading for a single !! .. .. for the man at the other end was at 95 ! .. .. What an innings ! – and what a player
he is !! – 30 balls he was scoring at run a ball and the next 30 he scored 71
!! – his first Century, has completed 500 runs and owns Orange cap and after Pollard
has the longest hit @ 103 M – the man Ruturaj Gaikwad.
His mentor
can take almost all credit for last season, he was badly trolled for persisting
with the same batsman when he initially failed, failed miserably not troubling
the scorers even ! – and what a transformation.
The name
Gaekwad would turn on the Tamil cinema fans !
… .. long back there was Dattajirao Krishnarao
Gaekwad who played 11 tests - an opening
batsman who was not able to command his place.
Then in 1975 at Calcutta against the mighty West Indies, his son
Anshuman Gaekwad debuted and in the next test at Chepauk he made a great
impression.
I belong to a
generation having watched the bespectacled
Anshuman grind the pace bowlers and saw today, Ruturaj Gaikwad hit with gay
abandon, eventually completing his century off the last delivery !
One may say Anshuman
Gaekwad's scoring range was limited but his raw courage against pace was
unlimited, a precious commodity in
Indian cricket. In Sept 1983 after aura
of WC win, Anshuman Gaekwad was in his
twilight zone – the bespectacled 31-year-old opener from Baroda had won back a
hard fought place only midway through the previous season after 3-1/2 years in
the wilderness and missing out on 37 Tests.
There was no question of a result and the match had the word draw
written all over it and Gaekwad just kept going even as wickets fell at the
other end. Gaekwad with unrelenting
determination and unwavering concentration did not falter and duly got to 200
in the company of the No 9 batsman Madan Lal. It was the slowest double century in all first
class cricket. Gaekwad played 652 minutes (and 426 balls) to reach the
landmark. Eventually Gaekwad was eighth out at 353 after scoring 201. In all he
batted 671 minutes and faced 436 balls and hit 17 fours. It was the seventh longest
innings in Test history.
In life, often we hear
people say that they performed so well, but had no luck or were overshadowed by
the efforts of somebody else. One of my
bosses used to say, that even for regular things he had to struggle, while
others got them so easily – is life cruel to some ! is not the Q of the day .. .. at times life
throws a bounty .. .. last season (IPL 2020) CSK were losing match after match,
and many trolled MS Dhoni for continuing with Ruturaj who had failed in his
first 3 matches ! – all that is left behind now ! as Ruturaj is instrumental in
ensuring that CSK qualified first this year.
In Oct 2020, Ruturaj
Gaikwad, from Pune, was back inside
the CSK team's bio bubble after
returning two Covid-19 negative tests following two weeks of isolation at a
separate quarantine facility in Dubai. .. .. and played only because Ambati Rayudu was not fully fit. The 2020 edition of the Indian Premier
League (IPL) didn’t go as planned for the three-time champions Chennai Super
Kings (CSK).
Last season in 6
matches Ruturaj scored 204 with 3 50s and this season in 12 matches (including
the one today) he has scored whopping 508 ! with 1 century and 6 fifties !! – what
a performance
A 22-year
old opening batsman who hails from Pune, Ruturaj Gaikwad has been a consistent
performer for his state team Maharashtra. He was the highest run-getter for
Maharashtra in the league stage of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2018-19. At the
IPL 2019 Player Auction, the Chennai Super Kings secured his services at his
base price of INR 20 lacs.
Today with
his blitz of five sixes and 9
fours, CSK reached 189/4 in 20 overs. Gaikwad, who reached his fifty in 43
deliveries, shifted gears in middle overs, accelerating to the three-figure
mark in just 60 balls. He reached the milestone with a six off Mustafizur
Rahman on the last ball of the innings. En
route his ton, Gaikwad also got hold of the Orange Cap, surpassing KL Rahul
(489 runs) on the list. Gaikwad now has 508 runs in the ongoing IPL edition at
an average of 50.80.
It was
skipper MS Dhoni's 200th game for Chennai but Gaikwad stole the limelight by
becoming the ninth CSK player to score an IPL ton. He is also the youngest CSK
player (24y 244d) to notch up an IPL century. Gaikwad also became
the first player to cross the 500-run mark this season. Overall, he became the
seventh Chennai player to score 500+ runs in an IPL season. He joins the
elusive list comprising Suresh Raina (3), Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey,
Dwayne Smith, Ambati Rayudu, and Shane Watson.
A match Ruturaj
would not forget in his life, perhaps most of us who saw him play would not ! –
but will Evin Lewis and Yashasvi Jaiswal ruin CSK’s party ?
2nd Oct 2021 @ 10 pm.
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