New Delhi: One-day cricket has a certain rhythm. It is unlike the madness of the T20 format or the stifling squeeze of a tight Test. It is a cross between the two but finding the sweet spot can sometimes (just ask Suryakumar Yadav) be tougher than it looks.
Over the years, that rhythm has become second nature to Virat Kohli. He walks into bat, understands the conditions and gets down to business. But most impressive, even after watching him for so many years, is how smoothly he operates in the middle. The ones and twos are sharp but when he is in the middle, the overall atmosphere is one of control.
On Wednesday, one got the very same feeling when Ruturaj Gaikwad batted. The 28-year-old right-hander might not have played the series if Shreyas Iyer had been fit. But now that he is here, he wants to make the most of the opportunity, and he did it in the best possible manner.
If you have seen him bat in domestic cricket or in the Indian Premier League, you’ll know that the man can bat. He is technically superb and has the gift of timing. But his ODI numbers had been underwhelming – seven matches and 123 runs at an average of 17.57.
After scoring just eight runs in the first ODI at Ranchi, he wanted to make amends in Raipur, and he did that with an impeccable 105 off 83 balls.
“Last game I was really gutted to miss out on a knock,” said Gaikwad during the mid-innings break. “It was a really good wicket and the conditions suited for me. I could have easily scored a few runs.”
He added: “I went out to bat around the 11th over, and told myself to approach it as if I was already 25 or 30 balls in after powerplay and bat accordingly, look to rotate the strike. Until 15-20 overs it was slightly two-paced but after that it got better and we worked on that.”
And work they did. The 195-run stand between Gaikwad and Kohli (102 off 93 balls) came off just 156 balls and it was all about smart cricket. The big shots were hit and the manner in which they made run-scoring seem effortless was particularly heartening.
Gaikwad took his time initially, getting to his 50 off 52 balls. But then he needed just 25 more deliveries to reach his first ODI century. This acceleration, which saw him outpace Kohli comfortably, set up the India innings.
The highlight of that blitzkrieg was him taking down Keshav Maharaj – the 28th over saw the SA spinner being smoked for 4, 6, 4. So good was he against spin that at times even Kohli couldn’t help but applaud. The trick of a partnership, though, is how the two batters feed off each other.
“He (Kohli) helped me a lot throughout the middle about how to access gaps, what lengths the bowler might be bowling and how you can adjust your technique and score some runs by playing less dot balls,” said Gaikwad.
“So definitely very helpful and good learning for me. We had set small targets and we just thought that you know five overs at a time, we have to achieve this, five overs we have to achieve this. And once we felt that we were really comfortable in the middle, and there came a phase where the ball wasn’t doing much and it was coming really nicely to the bat, I just said that I will back my instincts… whatever it is let’s see how it goes.”
It went very well indeed. Gaikwad’s first-class, List A and T20 debuts came in 2016-17, so he has been around for a while and found success in T20Is too. But this might be the moment when he truly starts to blossom on the world stage.
It was in 2020 that former SA skipper Faf du Plessis had spoken about how Gaikwad reminded him of a “young Virat Kohli”. To this point, in international cricket at least, it seemed like an odious comparison. Perhaps after this knock, many might see it his way.
