Ruturaj Gaikwad IPL Profile

Ruturaj Dashrat Gaikwad is an Indian cricketer who plays for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League and Maharashtra in domestic cricket. He is a free-flowing opener whose fluid style is the cornerstone of his game. Born on 31st January 1997 in the Pune District of Maharashtra, over the last few years Gaikwad not only has made rapid progress in domestic cricket. He is now competing with the world’s best players at the Chennai Super Kings and Indian Cricket team.

The top-order batter initially attracted the limelight in the 2016–17 Vijay Hazare Trophy, when he finished as the third-highest run-scorer in the competition. His ability to play reliable, risk-free cricket but scoring at a respectable rate soon caught the eye. He was drafted into the Indian A side and produced some crucial knocks during the home series against Sri Lanka A and against West Indies A.

His impressive performance saw him getting a contract with Chennai Super Kings and the move helped him polish his game further. He was sold to CSK for his base price of Rs 20 lakh in the 2019 IPL auction, although he mainly remained on the bench in his first season. In the second season once again he appeared sporadically, although he aggregated 204 runs in six innings with three fifty-plus scores.

The IPL 2021 saw him getting promoted as a first-team player and he simply delivered the trust of the Chennai-based franchise. Gaikwad won the Orange Cup, becoming the leading run-getter in the competition. He scored 635 runs in 16 innings at a strike rate of 136.26 with four half-centuries and a century. In the following two seasons, CSK retained him on both occasions.

Due to his impressive domestic and IPL numbers, Gaikwad has become a part of the national set-up in both formats. He made his T20 debut against Sri Lanka on 28 July 2021 while his ODI debut came against South Africa on 6 October 2022.