Stats: Ruturaj Gaikwad scores an unbeaten 187 in a 42-over game

Ruturaj Gaikwad starred with the bat during India A’s 48-run win over Sri Lanka A in the first of the unofficial 5-match ODI series. The opening batsman scored an unbeaten 187 off 136 deliveries with 26 fours and two maximums. The speciality of his knock is the game was a 42-over one as it started late due to overnight rain. India A finished with 317/4 in the restricted 42 overs with Anmolpreet Singh (65) and skipper Ishan Kishan (45) contributing.

Sri Lanka A’s attacking approach in the second half could only push them to 269/6 as Shehan Jayasuriya scored an unbeaten 108. Gaikwad’s innings in this game is a reflection of his solid record in the limited-overs. It was his 4th century across 31 List matches in which he scored 1565 runs at a brilliant average of 52.16. His innings was an example of how opener has to take the things forward in One-Day format. Ruturaj brought up his fifty in 46 balls and raised his hundred off 94 deliveries.

Towards the end, he cut loose as he needed only 25 balls to bring up his 150 after crossing the century mark as the Maharastra batsman scored 87 runs in his final 42 deliveries. With this knock, Ruturaj recorded the 2nd highest score by an India A player in List A cricket behind Shikhar Dhawan’s 248 in 2013 against South Africa A.

His 187* is also the 2nd highest score in a List A game which was of fewer than 45 overs. Alistair Brown, the first man to score two List A double tons, hit his first in 1997 against Hampshire.

Brown scored 203 runs during the 40-over fixture. Till date, only two players have scored a double ton in a List A game where the maximum available overs were less than 50. Kamran Akmal scored exactly 200 in the Pakistan domestic One-Day game in 2018 which was reduced to 47 overs due to weather conditions. Ruturaj’s 187* stands at 6th in the list of the highest individual score in List A cricket where the innings was of less than 50 overs.

(Stats as on June 6, 2019)