On Saturday, Ruturaj Gaikwad of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batted well (October 2). He blasted an unbeaten 101 off only 60 balls, batting through the innings and contributing to his team’s 189-run total. Former West Indies cricketer Brian Lara was blown away by the youngster’s batting and lavished accolades on him after the game.
Gaikwad smashed nine fours and five sixes during his time in the middle and never lost his form despite taking huge smashes. All of them were clean hits, and Lara was pleased with the way Ruturaj managed his innings. The opening batter hit 30 runs off 29 balls and then cruised through the opposing bowling attack in the second part of the innings.
“Yeah, he might have been on 135 if he had more strikes in the last overs. However, it was a full display of batsmanship. That is what I appreciate about him: watching how he strung together that inning, how he surged in the second part of the inning. He was simply incredible to watch,” Lara remarked of Ruturaj Gaikwad in an interview on Star Sports.
Lara describes Gaikwad’s knock as extraordinary and incredible
Brian Lara went on to say that the 24-year-old CSK opener pulled out genuine cricketing strokes and demonstrated to the world that T20 cricket isn’t only about slogging. Lara was so pleased with his exploits against RR that he placed him in the same category as KL Rahul in terms of batsmanship.
“He demonstrates that you can play excellent cricket strokes and yet get a lot of runs. And it is something I am proud of as a batsman. It was really amazing and incredible. Am going to put him in the KL Rahul group now,” the 52-year-old said.
Unfortunately, Gaikwad’s innings ended in a losing cause, as the Royals’ hitters made a joke of the 190-run chase, mowing it down in the 18th over alone. Despite this, Gaikwad was named Player of the Match for his outstanding performance with the bat.