It was a display of effortless hitting from Ruturaj Gaikwad, who relied on his lofted drives over extra cover and crisp pull shots to collect as many as eight sixes in his 50-balls 92.
Ruturaj Gaikwad’s high-quality stroke play has left Team India’s T20I and Gujarat Titans skipper Hardik Pandya in awe after their nervy five-wicket win over CSK in the IPL opener at Ahmedabad.
“At one point, it looked like CSK would score 220-230. We were finding it difficult on what area we should bowl at Ruturaj. I genuinely felt that today we could not get him out at all,” Pandya told reporters.
“Some of the shots that he played were not bad balls, he was punishing the good balls as well. As a bowling unit and as a captain, that made my job more difficult,” he said.
Pandya also hinted that if the opener will continue this kind of form, he will do “wonders” for Indian cricket.
“Some of the shots Rutu played was nothing to do with the bowling. He played some outrageous shots. Full credit to him the way he batted and if he continues to do so he is going to do wonders for Indian cricket.
“He has the game and I am sure when the time comes Indian cricket team will back him enough,” he said.
Titans skipper Hardik Pandya was pleased with the team’s performance but, at the same time, said they were not at their best.
“Obviously very good to start with the win. A Couple of shots from myself and Shubman put us in a difficult situation but again Rahul (Tewatia) brought the best out of his ability and the Rashid came in and showed wht he can do. We can learn quite a things from this victory,” he said.
Titans needed 41 off the last five overs but CSK managed to take the game down to the wire. It needed a cameo from Rashid Khan (10 not out off 3) to settle the nerves in the Titans dressing room.
“We lost one too many wickets. It’s not about blaming it is accepting our mistakes. Within the team we have set quite high standards so even we would have lost the game we would have learned a lot. We still have hope that we were not at our best but we’re still competing,” he said.
“We weren’t surprised with what Rashid did. We expected this from Rashid. We show a lot of trust and confidence in his batting and he has shown it again and again,” added Pandya.
Get latest updates on IPL 2025 from IPL Points Table to Teams, Schedule, Most Runs and Most Wickets along with live cricket score updates for all matches. Also get Sports news and more cricket updates.
