Ruturaj Gaikwad has increased the hype of the ongoing Ranji Trophy and scored a thunderous century in just 87 balls at a strike rate of almost 115 against the defending champion Mumbai. Mumbai bowlers were looking puzzled when Ruturaj struck the ball all over the MCA Cricket Ground. The Maharashtra captain’s innings paused at 145 runs, playing 171 deliveries. Gaikwad has smashed sixteen 4s and two 6s in his brilliant knock. Along with Ruturaj experience, Ankit Bawne has scored 101.
These two batters and Sachin Dhas (98) kept Maharashtra’s hope alive to get a win against Mumbai. But that was not enough to beat the Ranji Trophy Champion of the previous year. In the end, Mumbai outperformed Maharashtra by 9 wickets in the second innings. Surprisingly, Ruturaj Gaikwad didn’t even score a single run in the first inning; he went for a duck.
Maharashtra team captain Ruturaj Gaikwad has played a captaincy innings in this match. He managed to score a century in the second innings of the match. The special thing is that he completed his century off just 87 balls. During this, 14 fours and 2 sixes were seen from his bat. He put a fierce class on the Mumbai bowlers and made his team return to the match. He scored a century while scoring runs at a strike rate of around 115, which is very rare in red-ball cricket.
Ruturaj Gaikwad took over the responsibility of opening in the first turn of this match. But he could play only 2 balls and returned to the pavilion without opening an account. After this, he decided to bat at number three and scored a brilliant century. This is Ruturaj Gaikwad’s 7th century of first-class career. Apart from this, he has also scored 15 centuries in List A. At the same time, he has a century in his name in international cricket, which he scored in the T20I format.