Ruturaj Gaikwad unleashed his own version of MS Dhoni's famous helicopter shot.
Ruturaj Gaikwad showcased his own version of MS Dhoni’s famous helicopter shot on Sunday (May 15). Facing Gujarat seamer Alzarri Joseph, Gaikwad unleashed a mini-helicopter stroke at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
The Chennai opening batter swatted a ball wide outside the off-stump from Joseph through the vacant mid-wicket region for a boundary. While the West Indies speedster was trying to bowl to a predominantly off-side field, Gaikwad overcame the challenge by still dispatching the ball through the on-side.
The majestic shot was seen in the back half of the 12th over in Chennai’s first innings of the encounter. With the opposition placing a deep point fielder and reducing the boundary man down leg, Ruturaj Gaikwad broke down their plan to bowl outside off-stump with an interesting shot in the mid-wicket region.
Where Joseph perhaps erred was in over-pitching the ball, which gave Ruturaj Gaikwad the time and space to get underneath the delivery and unveil his own version of Dhoni’s legendary helicopter shot. The batter got the ball right in his downswing from outside off and drove it over the short mid-wicket fielder.
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Like Dhoni, Gaikwad’s downswing also finished past his head, making for a picturesque stroke that fans and commentators could rave over. It was one of the most impressive strokes played this season by Chennai’s rejuvenated opening batter.
Ruturaj Gaikwad is officially signed up on the Cricket NFT platform Rario, which has several other players in its roster. Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are a few other major Indian players on Rario’s roster.
Gaikwad was in tremendous form last season for Chennai. Despite batting on challenging neutral surfaces in India and UAE, the batter came out with flying colours, making a whopping 635 runs at an average of 45.35 and strike-rate of 136.26. A bumper season with Chennai soon led to Gaikwad’s India selection.
