Former India captain and chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar has said that in-form Maharashtra batter Ruturaj Gaikwad, who cracked three consecutive hundreds in the Vijay Hazare Trophy at Rajkot, should now be "straight away" picked for the forthcoming three-match ODI series in South Africa.
Gaikwad scored 124 off 129 balls against Kerala, following scores of 154* (vs Chhattisgarh) & 136 (vs Madhya Pradesh) in the first two games of the tournament.
The right-hander, who made his India ODI debut in Sri Lanka in July, was the top run-scorer in the IPL 2021 in September-October in the UAE, having cracked 635 runs in 16 innings with one century and 4 fifties.
"You must pick a man in form. How many more runs does he need to score to prove himself ? It is high time the selectors pick him straight away and give him a proper opportunity. He can bat at No 3 also. He must be accommodated in the team," Vengsarkar told TOI on Sunday.
There is stiff competition for the backup openers’ slot with Ishan Kishan and Shikhar Dhawan in the fray as well. KL Rahul and new ODI captain Rohit Sharma are already being the regular openers. The team for the ODIs is likely to be selected after the league stage of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
"It's not like Ruturaj 18 or 19. He's 24 now. There's no point in picking him when he'll be 28," felt Vengsarkar.
Vengsarkar was impressed by Gaikwad the first time he saw the youngster, who was just a 10-year-old then, at his cricket academy in Pune. The 116-Test veteran later took him to Lancashire in England for exposure tours.
(Times of India inputs)
