Former South African fast bowler Dale Steyn heaped praise on Ruturaj Gaikwad for his brilliant innings during India’s 48-run win over the Proteas side in the third T20I match in Cuttack.
He notched up his maiden fifty for India in the third T20I, scoring 57 off 35 balls, as well as adding 97 runs with Ishan Kishan (54) for the opening stand to help the hosts post 148 on the board against South Africa. Team India successfully defended the total by restricting the touring side to 131 runs.
Gaikwad, the Purple Cap winner of the IPL 2021, made full use of the powerplay and put pressure on the opposition, which impressed Steyn, who called the Indian batter a quality player who has the ability to take on the top pacers from around the world.
Dale Steyn on ESPNCricinfo: “He has looked really good in the last two years. He was Chennai's highest run-scorer the year before. He is a quality player. When you open the batting in the IPL, you generally come up against the best bowlers in the world. It could be (Kagiso) Rabada or Lockie Ferguson, throw all the names in the hat, and Ruturaj Gaikwad is up for it. Tonight he looked really good. A little bit of luck here and there but you create your own luck.”
He continued, “He looks in control, no worries when it comes to pace, no issues with spin and he reads the game really well. What India did well tonight was that they attacked the early part of the over, often got a boundary and put South Africa under pressure, and very often scored a boundary off the last ball and finished the over very well. That was led by Gaikwad.”
The former South African pacer said that Gaikwad does not look like a particularly aggressive batter like KL Rahul and he would have loved to bowl to such a batter.
Steyn further explained, “The thing that stands out is that he doesn't look like an aggressive player. He kind of looks in a similar vein in which KL Rahul bats. He stands very still, non-threatening. I loved bowling to batters like that. I felt that these guys are not going to take me down. It was the guys that moved around and showed they were aggressive that I was a little more fearful of.”
He signed off by saying, “But then you bowl a half-decent ball and it goes for four. You bowl your best ball and that goes for four. A bad ball also goes for four and now you are under a lot of pressure. That is the kind of player Gaikwad is, he does hit your good ball for four too. Something that Nortje could have changed tonight is that he could have run.”
(With ESPNCricinfo Inputs)
