- By Namrata Vijay
- Thu, 04 Dec 2025 04:32 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
IND vs SA 2nd ODI: India's star batter Ruturaj Gaikwad, who usually plays as an opener in white-ball cricket, couldn't do much in the series opener while batting at the No.4 position, but made a brilliant comeback in his second match. Irrespective of his batting position, Gaikwad revealed that he didn't find it hard to adjust. Since Shreyas Iyer wasn't available owing to an injury, the selectors picked Gaikwad as a No.4 batter. He performed well, as he had smashed his first hundred in the second match against South Africa.
He thanked the team management for backing his ability to adapt from being an opener to a middle-order batter. He revealed, “I feel it’s a privilege to have that kind of confidence from the management towards an opener who can bat at No. 4 as well. I took it that way."
He had scored a brilliant knock of 105 runs off 83 balls and had also built a partnership along with Virat Kohli of 195 runs, and helped the hosts post a mammoth target of 358/5.
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He also talked about how important it was to take advantage of his experience in this format, matching Kohli's strokes and running between the wickets. He said, “In one-day format, even when I was opening, I have always tried to make sure I can bat till the 45th over and capitalise after that."
In his knock, he had hit 12 fours and two sixes, and that's why it was an important innings as a No.4 batter.
He also talked about his injury layoff and how he was replaced by MS Dhoni as CSK skipper in IPL 2025. He said, “It is better if you don’t think too much about all these things because (if you are not in the present and whatever matches are in front of you, you don’t have that much focus and that much preparation."
He also revealed that his priority this year was to play consistently, irrespective of the format or the level. He added, “If I get an opportunity, (it’s) well and good, even if I don’t get an opportunity, it is still fine."
He enjoyed batting along with Virat Kohli as he tried to focus on their partnership and also keep the run-rate intact. He said, “The chat in between was very clear. We had said (about scoring) 5-10 runs per over (is the) target and (also) how to manoeuver the (ball in the) gaps or how to hit those boundaries (and) how we can rotate strikes."
He ended by admitting that there were a lot of expectations from him, both as a skipper to perform consistently.