Grind pays off for Ruturaj Gaikwad, now upto him and luck to prove his 50-over mettle

New Delhi [India], November 24 (ANI): The grind of domestic cricket and India 'A' team cricket has paid off for Chennai Super Kings' right-handed batter Ruturaj Gaikwad, who has earned a recall to the Indian ODI team, after last representing the nation in the format way back in 2023.
Ruturaj Gaikwad is part of the Indian squad, which will be led by KL Rahul in the home ODIs against South Africa, starting from November 30.
For Gaikwad, this recall is both hard-earned and by luck. After last playing ODIs in 2023, he could not win a recall back in the format due to the rise of Shubman Gill at the opening slot and the solid presence of KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer in the middle-order. However, with Gill, now the ODI skipper, out due to a neck injury, and Shreyas also recovering from a spleen injury, the CSK skipper has finally got a chance he would like to grab with both hands with some big scores.
In six ODIs for India, Gaikwad has scored 115 runs at an average of 19.16 and at a strike rate of 73, with a best score of 71, his sole fifty-plus score in the format.
Gaikwad, recently adjudged as the 'Player of the Series' in India A's series win over South Africa A, with 210 runs at an average of 85.00 and a century and fifty, is battling for a spot in the middle-order. With Yashasvi Jaiswal set to open alongside Rohit Sharma with a great List A sample size of 1,526 runs in 33 innings at an average of 52.62 with five centuries and seven fifties, Gaikwad will be fighting for the number four slot against Rishabh Pant, who has played just one ODI since his return from a life-threatening road accident in 2022, and Tilak Varma, India's Asia Cup hero against Pakistan.
Pant could get the nod ahead of Gaikwad due to seniority, having played 31 ODIs and scored 871 runs in 27 innings at an average of over 33, with a century and five fifties and a strike rate of over 106, but his lack of 50-over game time is a concern.
If it boils down to Gaikwad and Tilak, Gaikwad emerges as the clear winner. Tilak's last five List A outings have been 11, 29*, 39, 3 and 94. He also had a very underwhelming T20I series in Australia, scoring just 34 runs across three innings. On the other hand, not only has Gaikwad a 'Player of the Series' award against South Africa A, he has also enjoyed a brilliant run in domestic cricket, in Duleep Trophy, Irani Cup and Ranji Trophy.
In his last eight matches, including domestic cricket outings and 11 innings, Gaikwad has scored 724 runs at an average of 90.50, with three centuries and fifties each and a best score of 184 for West Zone against Central Zone in Duleep Trophy.
Will Gaikwad get some game time to prove his mettle in his best format? In 89 List A matches, 86 innings, he has scored 4,534 runs at an average of 57.39, with a strike rate of over 100, with 17 centuries and 18 fifties. His best score is 220*.
India squad for the ODI series: KL Rahul (C), Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Dhruv Jurel. (ANI)