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India batter Ruturaj Gaikwad brought up his maiden century in ODIs during the match against South Africa in Raipur on Wesnesday. He played a terrific innings of 105 runs from just 83 deliveries and played a key role in the Men in Blue posting a humongous total of 358/5 on the board after 50 overs.
Gaikwad was assisted very well by Virat Kohli, who also went on to bring up his hundred later in the innings. The duo formed a 195-run partnership and punished the opposing South African bowling attack. After the conclusion of India's innings, Gaikwad revealed that Kohli helped him a lot while in the middle by telling him how he can adjust his technique and score runs while taking less dot balls.
“Well obviously, a dream to bat with him and have a wonderful partnership. He helped me a lot throughout the middle about how to access gaps, what lengths the bowler might be bowling and how you can adjust your technique and score some runs by taking less dot balls. So definitely very helpful and good learning for me," Gaikwad said during the innings break.
A memorable knock for Gaikwad
This was a much-needed hundred for Gaikwad as he had disappointed in the opening match of the series and had gotten dismissed cheaply for eight runs. The South Africa series was a rare opportunity that the 28-year-old was provided with as he finally made his comeback to India's ODI set-up after two years. It was very important for him to deliver in this assignment and that is exactly what he did.
Kohli cracks second consecutive century
Meanwhile, Kohli also went on to play a fine knock of 102 runs from 90 deliveries during the match. This was his second consecutive hundred of the series and his 84th in international cricket. With the 2027 ODI World Cup on the horizon, this is exactly the kind of fform that Team India would want him to be in. It remains to be seen if the 37-year-old will go on to make it three tons from as many games in the next ODI against South Africa that will be played on December 6 in Visakhapatnam.
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