Ruturaj Gaikwad, the Indian batter who was not favoured in the ODI series against NZ, has snubbed Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli and has picked the former Indian wicket-keeper batter MS Dhoni as his cricketing idol.
Ruturaj Gaikwad was not included in the playing squad for the ODI series against New Zealand following batter Shreyas Iyer’s return from the laceration injury. The Indian batter had scored his maiden ODI century in the last inning he had come out to bat in the series against South Africa.
Gaikwad has been a special batter in his List A career for Maharashtra, where he has amassed 4000+ runs and has an average higher than the likes of Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Rahul Dravid, and even the great Sachin Tendulkar. Gaikwad would be eager for another call-up in ODIs, with hopes to make a World Cup debut in 2027.
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Ruturaj Gaikwad picks MS Dhoni as cricketing idol
Ruturaj Gaikwad, the young batter from Maharashtra, made his debut for the Chennai Super Kings back in 2020 under the captaincy of MS Dhoni and won his first title in 2021, winning the final against the Kolkata Knight Riders.
He soon turned out to be one of the major run-scorers for CSK in the competition and scored over 500+ runs in three of the 6 seasons he has played for the franchise. He also played a significant role in the title triumph in the 2021 and 2023 seasons.
Later, he was named the skipper of CSK ahead of the 2024 IPL season and has been leading them over the last two editions. He has revealed that MS Dhoni is his cricketing idol through the official Instagram handle of the Chennai Super Kings.
Despite retiring from international cricket, the IPL kingpin still continues to feature in the competition and has won 136 matches after featuring in around 235 outings, having won 5 titles with the Men in Yellow.
Hardik Pandya sidelined as Gaikwad picks CSK teammate as best all-rounder
Ruturaj Gaikwad has been making several shocking challenges and was not eager to leave the CSK dugout as he picked a few of his favourite players. After picking MS Dhoni as his idol, he sidelined Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya as the best all-rounder in the game.
The all-rounder, though, is highly ranked by the ICC in white-ball cricket. However, Ruturaj has picked Shivam Dube as the best all-rounder in the same event. Dube played a crucial hand for CSK in their title triumphs in IPL 2023.
However, it is to be noted that Shivam Dube has never been regularly used as a bowler in the IPL by the Chennai Super Kings and has often played as an impact player as well. He has had more success with the ball for India, with 23 wickets in 50 matches.
Gaikwad picks MI rival pacer as the toughest bowler to face
Ruturaj Gaikwad continued giving surprises in the same event, as Jasprit Bumrah, the world-class bowler, has been sidelined as a challenging bowler by the CSK captain, and instead, another MI bowler is the toughest he has faced.
Trent Boult, the New Zealand paceman, has been picked by Ruturaj Gaikwad as the most challenging bowler he has faced. He also chose his 58-ball 88 run innings against the Mumbai Indians in Dubai in 2021 as his finest knock in the IPL.
It has often been seen that Gaikwad has honestly faced Bumrah with ease and has smacked him for runs at times.
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