Former Indian pacer Ashish Nehra heaped praise on Ruturaj Gaikwad and said that the opening batter has what it takes to play in all three formats for the Team India.
The Gujarat Titans (GT) head coach further mentioned that Gaikwad plays in a totally different way when compared to his opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal, who tries to go after the bowlers right from the start.
Gaikwad recently became the first Indian to score a century against Australia in T20I cricket. The 26-year-old was dismissed for a diamond duck in the first T20I, but then made a fabulous comeback in the ongoing five-match T20I series against Australia.
He has scored a half-century and a century in the next two T20I matches against Australia, with the series poised at 2-1. In the third T20I, Gaikwad played an amazing inning, scoring 123* off 57 balls with 13 fours and 7 sixes during India’s 5-wicket defeat in Guwahati.
Ashish Nehra said on JioCinema: “Everybody knows what kind of a player he is (Ruturaj Gaikwad). When you talk about Yashasvi Jaiswal, his game is completely different compared to Ruturaj Gaikwad’s. You need solidity in the T20 format as well and that’s what Gaikwad brings to the table.”
He added, “There’s no doubt that Ruturaj Gaikwad is a three-format player for India. The kind of elegance that Ruturaj Gaikwad shows is unbelievable, amazing and it was (century in 2nd T20I) a great, great, great knock.”
Notably, the fourth T20I between India and Australia will be played on December 1 in Raipur.
(With Jio Cinema Inputs)
