India Tour of South Africa: Ruturaj Gaikwad- Former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar has put his weight behind opening batsman Ruturaj Gaikwad. The youngster is in red-hot form in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy. After winning IPL’s Orange Cap earlier this year, now he has raised his bar to another level. He has already smashed three consecutive hundreds for Maharashtra in the season. The development comes ahead of the upcoming 3-match ODI series in South Africa. Follow IND vs SA LIVE Updates on InsideSport.IN
India Tour of South Africa: Dilip Vengsarkar says, ‘It’s high time selectors pick in-form Ruturaj Gaikwad for SA ODIs’
“You must pick a man in form. How many more runs does he need to score to prove himself? It is high time the selectors pick him straight away and give him a proper opportunity,” Dilip Vengsarkar told The Times of India.
“He can bat at No 3 also. He must be accommodated in the team. It’s not like Ruturaj 18 or 19. He’s 24 now. There’s no point in picking him when he’ll be 28,” he added.
India Tour of South Africa: Ruturaj Gaikwad has struck scores of 136, 154* and 124 against Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh & Kerala respectively. The youngster was the top run-scorer in the last edition of the IPL where he amassed 635 runs in 16 matches to guide CSK to record the 4th IPL trophy. He had slammed a century and 4 fifties in the tournament.
Gaikwad has already made his debut for Team India in T20Is. He had managed 35 runs in his outings against Sri Lanka as part of the second-string India squad. The battle for openers is only heating up with the presence of experienced Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan and youngster Ishan Kishan in the fray for the opening slot.
Ruturaj Gaikwad – Last 10 inns
| MATCH | BAT | DATE | GROUND | FORMAT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maharashtra vs Uttarakhand | 21 | 12-Dec-2021 | Rajkot | List A |
| vs Kerala | 124 | 11-Dec-2021 | Rajkot | List A |
| vs Chhattisgarh | 154* | 09-Dec-2021 | Rajkot | List A |
| vs M. Pradesh | 136 | 08-Dec-2021 | Rajkot | List A |
| vs Goa | 44 | 09-Nov-2021 | Lucknow | T20 |
| vs Puducherry | 3 | 08-Nov-2021 | Lucknow | T20 |
| vs Odisha | 81 | 06-Nov-2021 | Lucknow | T20 |
| vs Punjab | 80 | 05-Nov-2021 | Lucknow | T20 |
| vs Tamil Nadu | 51 | 04-Nov-2021 | Lucknow | T20 |
| Super Kings vs KKR | 32 | 15-Oct-2021 | Dubai (DSC) | T20 |
The ODI squad for South Africa is likely to be announced after the league stage of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
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India Tour of South Africa: Dilip Vengsarkar says, ‘It’s high time selectors pick in-form Ruturaj Gaikwad for SA ODIs’
Vengsarkar was impressed by Gaikwad when the latter was just a 10-year-old boy at his cricket academy in Pune, The veteran of over 100 Tests Vengsarker has taken him to Lancashire in England for exposure tours.
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