One of the most promising young batters in Indian cricket, Ruturaj Gaikwad made his ODI debut for the national team against South Africa in Lucknow on Thursday. On a tricky pitch, Gaikwad struggled to showcase the batting ability that he has profoundly displayed in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) over the last couple of seasons. In fact, his performance triggered a huge meme fest on social media, with fans struggling to understand the snarling nature of his knock.
The pitch, at the beginning of India's batting, looked a difficult one. The nature of the wicket can be understood with the fact that India lost openers Shikhar Dhawan and Shubman Gill for meagre scores of 4 and 3 respectively.
Gaikwad looked to buy some time and weathered the storm, but could only score 19 runs off 42 balls before being dismissed by Tabraiz Shamsi. Gaikwad's strike-rate became a huge talking point on social media.
Here are some tweets:
Ruturaj has been a phenomenal performer for the CSK in the IPL. In fact, he had won the Orange Cap in the 2021 season, having scored 635 runs in 16 matches that campaign. But, his ODI debut didn't go as planned.
The fact that Ruturaj consumed plenty of dot balls did play its role the result of the match. Chasing a target of 250 runs, India came close to overhauling the total but could only reach 240 in 40 overs.
Sanju Samson was the pick of the batters for the Indian team, scoring 86 runs off 63 balls. Shreyas Iyer also made a valuable contribution with the bat, scoring 50 runs from 37 balls. Had Gaikwad scored a few more runs in the 42 balls he faced, the result could've been different.
After winning the T20I series 2-1, India have begun the ODI series on a losing note. With two more matches remaining to make amends, the hosts can complete a turnaround.