IPL 2023: Hardik Pandya lavishes praise on heroic Ruturaj Gaikwad, says 'Indian team will also back him'

Defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) got off to a superb start to the Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign as they beat four-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in a last-over thriller. While the five-wicket defeat was a hard pill to swallow for CSK, one player in particular Ruturaj Gaikwad made a good impression with opposition skipper Hardik Pandya also praising his knock of 92 runs.

"I genuinely felt that we can't err to him at all; some of the shots that he played, they weren't to bad balls," Hardik said.

"They were actually good balls, that made the big difference and more challenging for us as a bowling unit and captain. Full credit to him, if he continues batting like this, he's going to do wonders to Indian cricket. I'm sure he has the game, when the time comes I'm sure the Indian cricket team will also back him enough."

Ruturaj was seen in the superb nick of form in the opening encounter against GT after amassing 92 runs on Friday at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. His innings consisted of 9 sixes and 4 fours and was scoring at a strike rate of 184 before missing out on his second IPL hundred for CSK. While his form for CSK has been nothing short of scintillating, he will still need a strong claim to make the Indian team.

As things stand, he has been capped nine times in the T20I format while he also has a cap in the ODI format. Despite impressing in the IPL, he is yet to cement his place in the Indian side and last represented the Men in Blue in October 2022 against South Africa while his last T20I contest for the national side came in June 2022 during the Ireland tour.

Ruturaj will next take the field on Monday, April 3 against Lucknow Super Giants in their first home match of the season at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai and will search for their first win. If he continues his superb form he could be in line to secure his second Orange Cap, having previously won it in 2021 with CSK also winning the IPL.

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