India batter Ruturaj Gaikwad slammed a sensational century for India in the 3rd T20I vs Australia in Guwahati. Batting first, Gaikwad hammered 123* off just 57 balls to take India to a massive total of 222/3 on Wednesday, 29 November. This was Gaikwad’s first international century in 21 matches that he has played in the international format.
Impressed by the batter’s innings, former India cricketer Ashish Nehra said that the batter has the ability to play all three formats of the game for India. Speaking on Jio Cinema after the match, Nehra said that Gaikwad has elegance in his game, and brings in the solidity at the top order for India. Nehra was of the opinion that with attacking batters all around him, Gaikwad could provide India with a good base in all three formats of the game.
“Everybody knows what kind of a player he is (Ruturaj Gaikwad). When you talk about Yashasvi Jaiswal, his game is completely different compared to Ruturaj Gaikwad’s. You need solidity in the T20 format as well and that’s what Gaikwad brings to the table. There’s no doubt that Ruturaj Gaikwad is a three-format player for India,” Ashish Nehra said on Jio Cinema.
“The kind of elegance that Ruturaj Gaikwad shows is unbelievable, amazing and it was (century in 2nd T20I) a great, great, great knock,” Nehra concluded.
Ruturaj Gaikwad came into focus while playing for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League. In his four seasons at CSK, Gaikwad has already scored 1797 runs from 53 matches and is being seen as one of the leadership candidates to replace MS Dhoni.
On the day, despite Gaikwad’s century, India failed to take an unassailable lead of 3-0 against Australia. All-rounder Glenn Maxwell slammed a sensational 104* off 48 balls to help Australia win a final ball thriller in Guwahati. Maxwell was given the player of the match award in the 3rd T20I of the series.
