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The orange cap winner from this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) is having a golden run with the bat. Be it in the Yellow of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) or the Yellow of his domestic side Maharashtra, Gaikwad’s not letting go of that purple patch.
Gaikwad, who was made captain of Maharashtra ahead of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021-22, repaid the faith with a sensational hundred against Madhya Pradesh in his side’s opening encounter.
Gaikwad led from the front, scoring 136 off just 112 balls as Maharashtra chased down a massive target of 329 in their opening group encounter. He got to his hundred off just 85 balls, crunching 14 fours and 4 sixes during his stay at the crease. Gaikwad's 136 nullified the centuries of Madhya Pradesh batters Shubham Sharma and Aditya Shrivastava in the first innings.
Next big thing in Indian cricket?
After helping CSK win their fourth IPL crown, Gaikwad was also terrific in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament. Even though his side failed to reach the knockouts, the young Indian batsman amassed 259 runs in five innings, averaging 52 at a strike rate close to 150.
While CSK rewarded Gaikwad by retaining him for the next IPL cycle, his batting prowess will surely make the selectors take notice. And if he keeps pulling off performances as he did against Madhya Pradesh, it will not be long before he's a part of the mighty Indian squad especially when Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is likely to announce the limited-overs squad for South Africa later on. In November, he was a part of India's T20I squad against New Zealand but did not get a chance to bat.
