Ruturaj Gaikwad on Tuesday said it would be tough to fill the recently-retired Virat Kohli’s shoes in the number 3 position in T20Is, adding that he will just focus on making contributions with the bat, regardless of positions.
“This is a big topic and I think it’s not the right point to think about it. To even compare with him (Kohli) or try to fill in his shoes is relatively very tough and very hard,” Gaikwad said before the 3rd India vs Zimbabwe match.
“As I had said in the IPL as well, it is difficult to fill my best shoes as well. Definitely, you want to start your career, you want to start the way you want, you want to play your own game. So that’s the priority right now. Focus on one game, focus on how you can contribute towards the team in whichever position you play and make sure you are on the winning side more often than not,” he added.
Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja announced their retirement from the T20I setup after winning the T20 World Cup in June which has opened the doors for the next generation of players to vie for those positions.
Gaikwad, the Chennai Super Kings skipper has batted at No. 3 position for India in the first two T20Is against Zimbabwe but he said he has no preference and will bat wherever the team requires him.
“No, wherever the team wants, I will bat there. There is no problem. There is not much difference between the opening and the number 3 because you have to play the new ball. So there is not much difference,” he said.
Gaikwad who led CSK in the IPL this year, said that captaincy has gotten him to be a bit more involved in the game but it didn’t make any difference to his batting.
“Actually, to be honest, nothing has changed much. Because my batting has been the same as before. I have to play with responsibility and try and finish it on my own,” he said.
“It’s just that the way you look at the game, I think every time you are more involved now in the game since you have captained the IPL franchise for a long period of time. So you tend to be into the game for a longer period of time instead of just staying in the boundary outside and just focusing on one ball. As I said, batting wise it’s not made much difference,” he added.
