Follow UsIn an ideal world, Virat Kohli and Ruturaj Gaikwad should have a lot in common, but they don’t. In an ideal world, Gaikwad would’ve already nailed down his spot in the Indian ODI team years ago, but he hasn’t.
While Kohli is the marker of greatness in the 50-over format for close to two decades now, Gaikwad was on the periphery. While Kohli has defined dominating middle overs, Gaikwad’s inconsistency in the List A format in recent years has put him at a disadvantage.
But then, once in a while, in walks a situation that leaves us wanting more. Like it was at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur on Wednesday. Being tested for their roles in the side, albeit that can be contested for the former, Kohli and Gaikwad mirrored the virtues of the format and the unhurried approach with which it moves.
And while ODI cricket continues to be the lowest focal point in the context of events in the next one year, Gaikwad’s Raipur century was a profound moment for his fledgling international career, which has got a lifeline due to an ill-timed injury to Shreyas Iyer.
Practically speaking, there aren’t a lot of batters in India who embody the very essence of ODI batting like he does, but since slamming 132 off 110 balls on his debut against Himachal Pradesh in the 2016-17 Vijay Hazare Trophy, in which he ended up as the third-highest run-getter with 444 runs at an average of 63.42, Gaikwad had largely been on a slump. In the 2024-25 VHT, he scored just 194 runs at 32.33, not becoming the cricketer he was touted to be. He missed the next season and an injury during the IPL 2025 didn't help his cause.
And coming to the second ODI against South Africa in Raipur, with an average of 17.57 after seven ODIs, he couldn’t have complained had the team management decided to look the other way. But his Wednesday knock has perhaps settled him well as a back-up to Iyer for the foreseeable future, further dismantling Rishabh Pant’s position in the set-up.
In a way, this innings was a throwback to Kedar Jadhav’s knock against England in Pune in early 2017. Despite a century from Virat Kohli, Jadhav overshadowed the then Indian skipper shot-by-shot, cementing his spot ahead of the Champions Trophy later that year. And in his own quiet way, Gaikwad seemed to have taken a leap in the right direction to keep him in conversations more than ever.
With Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli already signalling their intent with both words and actions, the Indian think-tank doesn’t have a long list of decisions to make ahead of the next 50-over World Cup in South Africa. Their puzzles lie mostly among the all-rounders and a few movers and shifters in the bowling department. Once Iyer returns, Gaikwad may have to warm the bench again, or, at worst, return to the fringes.
But for a player who's had to live with the eponymous tag of being inconsistent for a good three years now, this was the first knock in a long time that felt like it could shift perception. And for someone like Ruturaj Gaikwad, perception might just be the most important starting point at this very moment.