The recent retirements of star India batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma after the T20 World Cup 2024 win have created a massive vacancy at the top of the Indian batting order in the shortest format. 

Given, Kohli has played mostly at the No.3 spot barring the T20 World Cup 2024 where he was promoted as an opener, India will hope to find someone adept in that role. 

In the ongoing tour of Zimbabwe, that responsibility has been taken over by talented Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batter and captain Ruturaj Gaikwad. 

Gaikwad has already shown his composure and prowess with the bat. The dynamic right-hander even finished as the second-highest run-scorer after Virat Kohli earlier in the year during Indian Premier League (IPL2024) season. 

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Ruturaj Gaikwad shares plan on filling Virat's shoes

Although it's not an easy task, Ruturaj has his priorities straight and wants to play to his strengths. 

Echoing on the same lines, Ruturaj said on the eve of the third T20I against Zimbabwe, 

"It's very big topic. To think so much about it is not the right point. To even compare with him and to fill in his shoes is relatively very tough and very hard as I had said in the IPL as well that it's difficult to fill Mahi bhai's shoes as well. Definitely you want to start your own career, you want to play your own game and that's the priority right now. Focus on one game, focus on how you can contribute to the team and whichever position you play, make sure that you are on the winning side more often than not."

India is currently playing Zimbabwe in a five T20I series with the scoreline evenly poised at 1-1 as the teams lock horns for the third match tomorrow (July 10). 

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