Gaikwad was out of most of the matches of IPL 2025 due to a fracture in the elbow
Rituraj Gaikwad hit a brilliant century on the first day of the second semi-final being played between West Zone and Central Zone at the BCCI Center of Excellence Ground B in Bengaluru.
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This was Gaikwad’s eighth century in first-class cricket, who came to bat at number four in the first session of this crucial match against the team led by Rajat Patidar.
Gaikwad was cautious against the new ball and stood firm at one end despite the early wickets of Yashasvi Jaiswal (4 runs off three balls) and Harvik Desai (1 run off four balls). With only 28 of his 100 runs coming against the pacers, his solid knock was lauded by the West Zone dugout. He took on the spinners, especially in the post-lunch session.
Dominated the spinners
He reached his hundred off his 131st ball with 13 boundaries. The Chennai Super Kings captain achieved the memorable feat by hitting a drive to the cover region off a left-arm spin delivery from Harsh Dubey. The Maharashtra batsman showed great ease in terms of shot selection while facing the spinners.
Talking about the match and performance so far, West Zone won the toss and decided to bat first. Khaleel Ahmed and Deepak Chahar took two wickets each early in the day to dismiss Jaiswal and Harvik. Harsh Dubey’s fast bowling picked up the wicket of Arya Desai (39 off 84 balls). Shreyas Iyer looked pretty good at the crease but was dismissed after scoring 25 runs off 28 balls.
Gaikwad is yet to play Test cricket for India. There are a couple of home Test series coming up against West Indies and South Africa. If the star batsman continues to perform in a similar fashion, he is very likely to find a place in the squad, according to fans and many cricket pundits who keep an eye on Indian domestic cricket.
Gaikwad was ruled out of most of the IPL 2025 matches due to an elbow fracture, which was a pretty disappointing turn of events for him and CSK.
