Former Indian fast bowler Zaheer Khan has showered praise on Ruturaj Gaikwad after the right-hander scored his maiden ODI century in the second ODI against South Africa at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium, Raipur on Wednesday.
Gaikwad, batting at number four, scored a fine knock of 105 runs off just 83 balls with the help of dozen fours and two sixes. The CSK captain completed his hundred off just 77 balls and added 195 runs off 156 balls with Virat Kohli for the third wicket.
Khan noted that Gaikwad is batting out of his natural position, which is at the top of the order. The former pacer said Gaikwad was the aggressor in the partnership with Virat Kohli.
“He is batting out of position, he must be someone who is batting at No.1, 2, or 3 in Vijay Hazare (Trophy). But he is now at No.4 with the Indian team, which is not an easy position to bat. For him to walk in there, Marco Jansen welcoming him to the crease with a nice steep bouncer, he will be very happy with the innings he has put up. He was the aggressor in that partnership, took pressure off Virat Kohli as well in that phase,” Zaheer Khan said on Cricbuzz.
“He is a top, top player of spin bowling. He makes it very difficult for the spinners to contain. Maybe that is one of the reasons why the team management was also trying to push him in the middle order because that is a very crucial position. If you have someone who can play risk free cricket, but yet dominate, that can make it difficult for spin to have that impact in the middle overs,” he added.
On the other hand, India’s stand-in captain KL Rahul added the finishing touches with a 43-ball 66 to help India post 358 runs on the board.
“Someone needed to finish the innings strong, and the captain took the responsibility of making sure that you get to the total which is an above par one. I think India was always set out to hit 330-350, the platform was set for that. He assessed the conditions well. The management decided to send him up, which is a good, proactive call,” the former bowler added.
South Africa are 182-2 after 28 overs in the run-chase.
