Ruturaj Gaikwad has been a prolific run-scorer in the IPL but hasn't been able to break into India's T20 side for a consistent run. Could a move down the order at CSK improve his case?
Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad’s last appearance for India came in July last year on the tour of Zimbabwe. Since then he hasn’t been picked in any white-ball side and his chances of being an India regular are dwindling down.
The 27-year-old batter has been a run machine for CSK in the last few years. He has amassed 2380 runs from 65 innings at an average of 41.75 and strike rate of 136.86. Gaikwad has registered two centuries and 18 half centuries for CSK in the IPL.
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India have a remarkable talent pool currently, especially in white-ball cricket. A lot of credit for that goes to the Indian Premier League as players have been able to rub shoulders with top international stars from a young age.
The Men in Blue ended the international trophy drought last year, when they defeated South Africa in the T20 World Cup final. Following the triumph, India’s two batting stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma retired from the T20I format.
With those two gone, the first opening spot went to Yashasvi Jaiswal, with Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, and Sanju Samson competing for the other spot.
Gaikwad has excellent numbers for India in the shorter format, scoring 633 runs at an average of 39.56 while striking at 143.53. But with India having a new designated pair at the top, Gaikwad’s chances look bleak.
To add to his woes, Gaikwad’s form in domestic cricket hasn’t been great recently. In the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he made 123 runs from five innings, 97 of which came in one innings.
The Maharashtra batter had a similar outing in the recent Vijay Hazare Trophy as well. He smashed a stunning 148 not-out off 74 against Services in the second game but made only 46 runs across the other six innings. With such numbers, he is not going to get noticed by the selectors.
The upcoming IPL 2025 season will be critical for the CSK captain to get himself back in contention for a spot in the Indian side. With at least three opening batters ahead of him in the pecking order, it might not be a bad idea for Gaikwad to push his case from the middle order.
Ruturaj has played in the middle order previously for India on the tour of Zimbabwe, hitting 77 off 47 from number three and 49 off 28 batting at number four. He has played four innings at number three for CSK as well, making 123 runs off 87 deliveries.
He is one of the best right hand batters in spin-hitting and averages 41 with a strike rate of 138 in overs 7 to 12. CSK have Devon Conway and Rahul Tripathi, who can pair up at the top, which frees Gaikwad to bat in the middle order.
India currently have Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma and Rishabh Pant vying for number 3 and 4 spots in the T20 side. Of those, only Suryakumar has an undroppable track record. If Gaikwad can pile on runs in the middle order for CSK in the IPL 2025, who knows he might have a better chance of breaking into the Indian side.
