Indian batsman Ruturaj Gaikwad, who was not liked in the ODI series against New Zealand, has ignored Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli and chosen former Indian wicketkeeper batsman MS Dhoni as his cricket idol.
Ruturaj Gaikwad was not included in the playing squad for the ODI series against New Zealand following the return of batsman Shreyas Iyer from injury. The Indian batsman scored his maiden ODI century in the last innings to bat in the series against South Africa.
Gaikwad has been a special batsman in his List A career for Maharashtra, where he has scored 4000+ runs and his average is higher than Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Rahul Dravid and even the great Sachin Tendulkar. Gaikwad will be keen for another call-up in ODIs with hopes of making his World Cup debut in 2027.
Ruturaj Gaikwad chose MS Dhoni as his cricket role model
Young Maharashtra batsman Ruturaj Gaikwad made his debut for Chennai Super Kings under the captaincy of MS Dhoni in 2020 and won his first title in 2021 by winning the final against Kolkata Knight Riders.
He soon became one of the leading run-scorers for CSK in the competition and scored more than 500+ runs in three of the 6 seasons he played for the franchise. He also played a key role in title wins in the 2021 and 2023 seasons.
Later, he was named the captain of CSK ahead of the 2024 IPL season and has been leading them for the last two editions. He has revealed through the official Instagram handle of Chennai Super Kings that MS Dhoni is his cricket idol.
Despite retiring from international cricket, the IPL kingpin is still in the competition and has won 136 matches after appearing in around 235 matches, and has won 5 titles with the Men in Yellow.
Hardik Pandya sidelined as Gaikwad picks CSK teammate as best all-rounder
Ruturaj Gaikwad has been facing many surprise challenges and was not keen to leave the CSK dugout as he picked some of his favorite players. After choosing MS Dhoni as his idol, he bypassed Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya as the best all-rounder in the game.
However, the all-rounder is ranked highly by the ICC in white-ball cricket. However, Ruturaj has selected Shivam Dubey as the best all-rounder in the same event. Dubey played an important role in CSK’s title win in IPL 2023.
However, it should be noted that Shivam Dubey has never been used regularly as a bowler by Chennai Super Kings in the IPL and he has often played as an impact player as well. He has had more success with the ball for India, taking 23 wickets in 50 matches.
Gaikwad picks MI rival fast bowler as toughest bowler to face
Ruturaj Gaikwad continues to deliver surprises in the same event, as world-class bowler, Jasprit Bumrah has been sidelined by the CSK captain as a challenging bowler, and instead, another MI bowler is the toughest bowler he has faced.
New Zealand fast bowler Trent Boult has been selected by Ruturaj Gaikwad as the most challenging bowler he has faced. He picked his inning of 88 off 58 balls against Mumbai Indians in Dubai as his best innings in the IPL in 2021.
It has often been seen that Gaikwad has honestly faced Bumrah with ease and has hit him for runs many times.
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