With his second century on the trot and third of Vijay Hazare Trophy 2022, Ruturaj Gaikwad moved up to fourth in the leading run-getters table. The 25-year-old’s 168 vs Assam in the semi-final scored 552 in just four innings. Gaikwad has put in a strange performance in his last two matches for Maharashtra, but it is his batting that has taken center stage. Yes, there was a double century against Uttar Pradesh in the quarterfinal, but both the centuries were not explosive from the start. A cautious start is preceded by intent vs spin and then it is straight and big. Very much in V.
Against Assam, it is a “mila ke khelna(a slang used in cricketing circles to refer to playing correctly) as he waited for loose balls and showed no desire to press the accelerator at the start of the innings. Cover drives were as elegant as they could get, short and wide put away with disdain and anything on the pads sent down the ropes in a hurry. The team’s total was 93/1 in 19.5 overs when Gaikwad brought up his half-century in 56 balls. There was no sense of urgency in hitting the eight fours, but what happened after that was something we have seen in the past in the IPL and in the match against Uttar Pradesh, where he scored 220*.
Gaikwad explodes, and how.
The keyword here is “how”. Again, there was proper method and no craziness about his approach during this crucial period of the game. In a 50-over tie, the 20-35 overs period can swing many times and this is a phase at which each side will be looking to keep a good grip on the contest. Maharashtra lost Satyajit Bachhav for 41 runs in the 22nd over and the arrival of Ankit Bawne boosted the innings.
serious against spin
It was a batting-against-spin masterclass on display as Gaikwad effortlessly went about scoring runs, mostly in the V. Batting is mostly a reactive process and the right-handed batsman was very pleasing to the eye as he found gaps with precise and clean ropes. easily. The focus was mostly on timing as he showed intent against the spinners. Inside out, hard hits over the bowler’s head and powerful pulls towards the mid-wicket region highlighted the second half of his innings where he scored at a brisk pace. The opener’s next fifty came off just 32 balls and included three beautiful sixes.
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The third half of the innings had intent written all over it as it went all out. The next 68 runs were scored in just 38 balls and this time even the fast bowlers were not spared. In the end, he tried to hit the seventh six of the innings off the ball of Riyan Parag and took a brilliant catch of Sahil Jain at long on. 168 off 126 balls, 18 fours and 6 sixes.
Same Template vs UP
They followed a similar template in the game against UP. It was a very good seam attack with players like Ankit Rajpoot, Shivam Mavi and Karthik Tyagi. Spinners Shiv Singh and Shivam Sharma are also known to be very accurate and have achieved a lot of success in their careers.
There were a lot of oohs and aahs in the beginning as the UP seamers talked the ball and kept the Maharashtra batsmen under control. They were 29/1 after 10 overs and Gaikwad had scored only 18 runs in 35 balls.
The right-handed batsman looked busy when spin was introduced into the attack. UP skipper Karan Sharma rotated his spinners with Kartik Tyagi and even moved his arm to run in a few overs. Gaikwad used the period to set himself up and then made most of the drops while batting on 49. He brought up his half-century (off 72 balls) with a six, 100 (off 109 balls), 200 (off 153 balls) with a six. Hits a six and gets into the record books.
Against UP, Shiva Singh’s seven consecutive sixes grabbed most of the attention and the overall approach took a backseat in the second half of the innings. Like the Maharashtra fixture, most of the scoring was done against spin and it certainly didn’t turn out to be a memorable fixture for left-arm spinner Shiva.
The action has now shifted to the title clash featuring Maharashtra and Saurashtra. All eyes will be on how the likes of Jaydev Unadkat and Chetan Sakaria fare against Maharashtra’s formidable batting unit of Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ankit Bawne and Rahul Tripathi.
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