Ruturaj Gaikwad “is going to do wonders for Indian cricket” and the team will “back him enough” when his time comes. Hardik Pandya, potentially India’s T20I captain as they build towards next year’s T20 World Cup, couldn’t have been more effusive in his praise for the CSK opener for his incredible 52-ball 90 to kick off IPL 2023 in Ahmedabad in front of 100,000 fans.
Hardik said after Gujarat Titans secured a tight five-wicket win –
“To be very honest, we all know the kind of player he is, at one point of time it looked like CSK would score 220-230. We were finding it difficult as to what areas we should bowl because he’s an all-round cricketer, plays cricketing shots.”
Hardik would come under his wheels even more when Gaikwad launched him for consecutive sixes in the seventh over. Every other Titans bowler was cleaned up except for Rashid Khan.
Hardik added – “I genuinely felt that we can’t err to him at all; some of the shots that he played, they weren’t to bad balls. They were actually good balls, that made the big difference and more challenging for us as a bowling unit and captain.”
Hardik further added –
“Full credit to him, if he continues batting like this, he’s going to do wonders to Indian cricket. I’m sure he has the game, when the time comes I’m sure the Indian cricket team will also back him enough.”
