Twitter Reactions

‘Bhai aap kamal ho bhai’ – Fans react as Ruturaj Gaikwad smash a brilliant half century in ITL opener against Gujarat

Mar 31, 2023 10:42 pm

In the season opener of the Indian T20 League 2023, MS Dhoni-led Chennai faced Hardik Pandya’s Gujarat at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Star Chennai batter Ruturaj Gaikwad missed out on a much-deserving century as he was dismissed by Alzzari Joseph in the 18th over. He hammered all Gujarat bowlers all around the park to score 92 runs off 50 balls, with the help of four boundaries and nine maximums.

Earlier, after winning the toss, Gujarat opted to bowl first. The decision went well with the team as they clinched the early wicket of Devon Conway and restricted Chennai to 14/1. However, this was the only time when Gujarat bowlers celebrated as they were hammered by Ruturaj all around the park. Although Chennai lost wickets at regular intervals, they posted a hefty total of 178/7 in 20 overs. Apart from Ruturaj, Moeen Ali 23 off 17, and MS Dhoni 14 off 7 also played crucial cameos to finish the innings on a high note.

Ruturaj Gaikwad, who is running out of the national team, once again proved his importance. He hammered 9 sixes in his innings which is second highest by any batter of Chennai. He is just behind Faf du Plessis, who has scored 11 sixes in an inning. On the other hand, Mohammed Shami, Alzzari Joseph, and Rashid Khan shined with the bowl for Gujarat as they clinched two wickets each. Meanwhile, Irish bowler Joshua Little also clinched a wicket as he dismissed Ambati Raydu.

Arijit Singh treated the audience with an amazing performance

Ahead of the game, star Bollywood singer Arijit Singh performed in the opening ceremony of the 16th season of the Indian T20 League. He treated the audience with his smoothening voice as he played songs from movies like ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’, and ‘Pathaan’, he made his fans groove to his tunes. After his performance, actresses Rashmika Mandhana and Tamanna Bhatia set the stage on fire with an electrifying performance.

Meanwhile, fans react to Ruturaj’s amazing performance and asked selectors to consider him for upcoming national games. A Twitter user said, “How can this player is not playing for India.”

Here are some Tweets:

And we don't play with this guy in international 🗿 bcci

— Nighthawk (@Nighthawk3793) March 31, 2023

Pleasing to see him fix that one chink he had in his armory against short balls. Now looks a complete all-round player. Amazing 👏

— Rational Human (@RationalHuman17) March 31, 2023