"Neither MS Dhoni Nor Rohit Sharma.."- Ruturaj Gaikwad Names His 3 Favorite Cricketers Of All Time

Pune-born Batter Ruturaj Gaikwad has been all over the news since arriving in International cricket due to his exquisite shot selection and aggressive style of play. In a very short period, Gaikwad has become an integral part of Team India who has also Captained the team on several occasions.

He is a player who is going to do wonders for team India shortly and is very well capable of replacing Rohit Sharma as the opener when the former calls it quits. Ruturaj is currently on tour with the Indian team to South Africa which is set to play the final ODI of a 3-match series which is level at 1-1.

Even though he is a very talented batter, Gaikwad has struggled to score runs in the ODI format. If we look at his numbers in this series itself then he only has 9 runs under his belt. The 26-year-old scored 5 in India’s 8-wicket 1st ODI win at Johannesburg followed by 4 runs in the shambolic loss against South Africa at Gqeberha.

Later today when India and South Africa square off at Boland Park Stadium, Ruturaj Gaikwad will be eager to contribute and help India win only its 2nd ODI series on South African soil. He could also be making his Test Debut during the 2-match Test series against South Africa which starts from 26th December.

If we take a look at his ODI record then Gaikwad has scored just 115 runs in 6 innings and has 1 half century to his name. Despite that, it is believed that he will be given a longer rope by the selectors as he is one for the future. In case you didn’t know, Ruturaj was the captain of the Indian team that won the 19th Asian Games gold medal by beating Nepal in the final.

Most of the credit behind his rise goes to none other than MS Dhoni who has always had a knack for spotting talents and nourishing them for bigger challenges. Gaikwad became a major revelation during the 2021 IPL edition where he finished as the highest run scorer with 635 runs and helped the Chennai Super Kings land their 4th IPL title.

He followed that by scoring 368 runs in 2022 and finished as the 7th-highest run-getter in CSK’s title-winning 2023 IPL season.

Ruturaj Gaikwad Names Virat Kohli, AB De Villiers and Kane Williamson As His Favorite Cricketers

Despite MS Dhoni playing such a key role in his come-up, when Ruturaj was asked to name his 3 favorite cricketers, he didn’t include “Thala” in that category. He named Indian batting great Virat Kohli, retired South African Ab De Villiers, and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson as his 3 favorite cricketers.

In that interview conducted by Star Sports, he was also asked about his cricketing idols while growing up, and to that he said, “My cricketing idol while growing up was obviously Sachin Tendulkar, then MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli, so I kept changing.”

It will be fair to say that Ruturaj can go on to become a blend of his role models and if he can replicate his T20 performances in ODIs then there is no doubt in him becoming a regular starter for team India.