āThe second phase of IPL 2021 kickstarted with a bang as Chennai’s opening batsman, Ruturaj Gaikwad played an impeccable innings to impart a fighting chance to the Yellow Army.
Chennai was jolted to a rude awakening as Boult struck early to remove du Plessis. Three balls later, Adam Milne removed the explosive Moeen Ali for naught.
Raina was the third man to depart for Chennai as his bat broke after a frenetic swing with the resultant loft safely landing into the arms of Rahul Chahar.
Ruturaj Gaikwad delivered hope in the middle of chaos
In the middle of all this early wreckage if there was someone showing hope to Chennai that was their young opening batsman, Ruturaj Gaikwad. The youngster took his time to get his eyes in and started his battery against Adam Milne with a fortunate boundary racing to the ropes past a chasing Boult.
The next boundary smacked by Gaikwad was another piece of fortune that came his way as he wildly swung his bat to usher the ball to long-off but saw the ball racing to the third man boundary.
He assumed control from his third boundary as he nicely drove Milne to the ropes. Weathering the initial storm of Mumbai Indians, he stitched together an incredible stand with Ravindra Jadeja as he dictated proceedings.
The late rush from the opener
Once Gaikwad got into the groove it was simply an illustration of effortless fluidity from the ambitious youngster. He picked his strikes perfectly and didn’t really show any rush to attack the bowlers as the boundaries kept on flowing.
He played a stellar knock of 88 from 55 deliveries that saw him drilling 9 fours and thwacking 4 sixes. It was his magic that propelled Chennai to a respectable 156 with some resistance from Jadeja and a late blitzkrieg from Dwayne Bravo.
Twitter seemed extremely happy as the youngster excelled at another blistering knock in the midst of all the chaos.
Ruturaj Gaikwad wow! Hats off. Everything was going haywire early and he stayed to play a fantastic knock. And what a recovery by CSK. #CSKvMI
— Chloe-Amanda Bailey (@ChloeAmandaB) September 19, 2021
Havenāt seen a batsman better at destroying the yorker than Ruturaj.
— CS Amudhan (@csamudhan) September 19, 2021
RUTURAJ GAIKWAD! Witnessed one of the finest CSK knock tonight. Truly mood lifting man.
— Silly Point (@FarziCricketer) September 19, 2021
Regardless of the result, Ruturaj has just played a phenomenal inning. #CSKvsMI
— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) September 19, 2021
What an Innings played by Ruturaj Gaikwad. He scored Brilliant 88* runs from 58 balls including 9 Fours and 4 Sixes against Mumbai Indians. Brilliant innings. Well played, Ruturaj Gaikwad. #CSKvsMI pic.twitter.com/M9wipkazB9
— CricketMAN2 (@man4_cricket) September 19, 2021
There will never be a young player better than Ruturaj Gaikwad. pic.twitter.com/IfqIr0UI7S
— ` (@rahulmsd_91) September 19, 2021
Ruturaj Gaikwad said "why be a King, when you can be the God?"
— Heisenberg ā¢ (@internetumpire) September 19, 2021
One of the Greatest Knocks under tremoundous pressure vs top quality bowling lineup. RUTURAJ GAIKWAD is here to RULE šš».. pic.twitter.com/XCt4uh1OAm
— CSK Loyal FCā¢ š¦ (@CSK_Zealots) September 19, 2021
Ruturaj in last 5 matches in #IPL2021:
88*(58)
4(4)
75(44)
33(25)
64(42)The consistent Rutu of #CSK.
Advertisement— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) September 19, 2021
Starting a crowdfund of 17 crores for Ruturaj Gaikwad.
Advertisement— Heisenberg ā¢ (@internetumpire) September 19, 2021
Ruturaj Double digit scores in IPL
Advertisement65*, 72, 62*, 10, 64, 33, 75, 88*
— Broken Cricket (@BrokenCricket) September 19, 2021
