Had to lead from the front, being a senior player and an experienced player: Ruturaj Gaikwad

Ruturaj Gaikwad led Maharashtra to the Vijay Hazare Trophy finals for the first time in the history of the tournament and showed great skills with the bat. Coming on the back of an injury and missing out on multiple games in the tournament, he led the team from the front, notched up multiple tons and emerged as the finest player for his side.

Gaikwad continued to showcase his skills and his red-hot form in the finals too, against Saurashtra at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The pitch did not support either the batters or the bowlers, but Gaikwad played a composed knock. After a sluggish start, Gaikwad managed to bag a half-century and converted it into a quick ton as he ended up scoring 108 off 131 deliveries.

Thanks to his knock, Maharashtra ended up scoring 248/9 but unfortunately lost the summit clash and ended as the runners-up. After the game, Ruturaj Gaikwad, who was adjudged Player of the Series for scoring 660 runs in just five innings at a mindblowing average of 220, opened up about the loss, and also spoke of his form that led Maharashtra into the historic finals.

“I’m just trying to enjoy the game and stay in the present, looking to give good starts and then convert them into big hundreds. I’m just trying to become as consistent as possible. It was important for me to get back well from injury. Had to lead from the front, being a senior player and an experienced player,” Gaikwad was quoted as saying by News 18.

Had to make sure that I’m staying calm: Gaikwad

At the halfway stage in the first innings, Maharashtra struggled at 75/2, with Gaikwad on 34*(77). It took 95 deliveries for him to get to his half-century. But he gained great confidence post the fifty and notched up boundaries at regular intervals. He smashed two back-to-back sixes to bring up his century in style and proved why he was Maharashtra’s main man. Speaking of the innings, he said:

“The kind of bowling they had, and the lines/lengths they bowled, it was challenging and I was enjoying it. Had to make sure that I’m staying calm. There was a lot of difference in the pitch during the second innings. If we got the same conditions, things could have been different. After 25 overs of our innings, the pitch eased out but we were always behind the game due to that start. We could have got to 300 or 320-330 if the surface was better from the start.”

The pitch at the Narendra Modi Stadium became batter friendly as the game progressed. But the first half of the first innings was very difficult for the Maharashtra batters. Though the Saurashtra bowlers could not pick many wickets, they did not concede runs either. The Jaydev Unadkat-led side claimed an epic win, thanks to the match-winning unbeaten century by their opening batter Sheldon Jackson, and Chirag Jani’s hat-trick.

“Obviously, toss played a huge factor as we were always behind in the game. It was a 70-30 advantage with the toss but credit to the Saurashtra bowlers, they bowled really well. Still, 248 in the first innings was a good total. You can lose wickets upfront sometimes on these pitches but I’m proud of my team for today and all through the tournament. We have a young team, many players are playing their first final and hopefully, they will all learn from this," Gaikwad concluded.