Ruturaj Gaikwad went from a villain to a hero during his sensational century in the 3rd T20I against Australia on Tuesday in Guwahati. Ruturaj Gaikwad became the first Indian batsman to hit a century against Australia in T20Is.
It was a scratchy start from Gaikwad as he managed only 21 runs in 21 balls. He was getting trolled mercilessly on social media for his slow start, which also saw captain Suryakumar Yadav at the other end get out while trying to play a big shot under the pressure of the run-rate.
India were 81/3 in the 11th over at Suryakumar’s dismissal. After that, however, Ruturaj Gaikwad started to tee off and didn’t stop. In fact, he became even more dangerous as his innings progressed.
By the end, Gaikwad had gone from 21*(21) to finish at 123*(57) – a strike rate of 215! In his sizzling century, the right-handed opener smashed 13 fours and 7 sixes as India finished at 222/3.
Seeing Gaikwad smash the pacers, the Aussie captain Matthew Wade gave the 20th over of India’s innings to Glenn Maxwell, and Gaikwad tore into him stunningly. Maxwell conceded 30 runs in his over that included a wide and a no-ball. Ruturaj Gaikwad clobbered 3 sixes and 2 fours to Maxwell in the last over.
On the first six of the last over from Maxwell, Gaikwad brought up his century and got a standing ovation from the crowd and the Indian dressing room, with VVS Laxman, the interim coach for this series, smiling with happiness.
Twitter erupted with funny memes as Ruturaj Gaikwad hit maiden T20I century vs Australia:
Matthew Wade had once again won the toss and elected to bowl again in the 3rd T20I.
Teams:
Australia (Playing XI): Travis Head, Aaron Hardie, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Matthew Wade(w/c), Nathan Ellis, Jason Behrendorff, Tanveer Sangha, Kane Richardson
India (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan(w), Suryakumar Yadav(c), Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Prasidh Krishna
