Ruturaj Gaikwad

A free-stroking opener whose game revolves around a fluid technique, Ruturaj Gaikwad first burst into the scene during the 2016-17 Vijay Hazare Trophy where he ended as the third highest run-scorer in the tournament. His ability to be solid and play risk-free cricket, and yet score at a fair clip caught attention immediately. Right from his childhood days, Ruturaj was a prodigy who was tipped to make it big. He rose through the age group system of the Maharashtra team, and consistently made it to the India A side as well.

Given his methodology, it comes as no surprise that his success rate has been much higher in List A, where he is consistent and also makes his runs at a healthy strike-rate. However, given his temperament and technique, Ruturaj should be able to better his already reasonable returns in First-class cricket. His batting revolves around deft touches and timing, than the modern day power-hitting module that you see with most young batsmen. He got picked up by Chennai Super Kings in the 2019 IPL season and made a huge impact in the 2021 season when he made 635 runs as CSK won the title. His attacking knocks at the top were a major reason for his team's success. 2021 followed his debut season where CSK gave him games after failing to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in their history.

His gold-standard IPL season was rewarded with a place in the national team and he made his T20 international debut during the tour of Sri Lanka in 2021. However, his wait for his ODI debut was a tad longer and he finally got his opportunity during the home series against South Africa in 2022. However, it has been a start-stop career for Gaikwad across both forms of the game. The need for aggressive batting in the powerplay saw preference given to the big-hitters in the T20 format while he has been leapfrogged by others batters in the 50-over version format.

Gaikwad though remains a much sought after personnel in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and it came as no surprise when the Chennai Super Kings forked out 6 crores to retain him ahead of the 2022 season. His calm and sedate batting approach has transformed him into captaincy material and it came as no surprise when he took over the the reigns from MS Dhoni to become the captain of the Chennai franchise ahead of the 2024 season, leading them to a 5th placed finish.