Ruturaj Gaikwad made a spectacular first century in ODI cricket which made him stand out from the rest of the players, and in the same vein, Virat Kohli added yet one more indistinguishable milestone to his incredible career with his 53rd ODI century, as India completely took control of the 2nd ODI vs South Africa in Raipur.
Gaikwad Goes All the Way to Deliver a Breathtaking First Ton
Definitely the crowd in Raipur was lucky to be present at a moment when Ruturaj Gaikwad recorded his first century in One Day International cricket, and he did it in a spectacular manner. Gaikwad, confronting Corbin Bosch, made a pull shot which was very well executed to the midwicket area and thus reached 100 runs for the first time in his career. Simply marvelous an inning is what comes to one’s mind when one spots the fact that it only took 77 balls for him to reach his century and that this inning was definitely a mixture of grace, timing and dominance.
After facing the crowd with his lifted bat, Ruturaj took off his helmet, and it so happened that Virat Kohli came over to him with his arms wide open, a moment, which in fact, really signifies the core of a brilliant association contributing to South Africa’s defeat.
On coming to the pitch after the fall of early wickets, Gaikwad was very much composed in his approach. What he did was that he layed his trap for the bowler, got his tempo without delay, and then he started to display his vast repertoire of strokes. Beautifully immaculate for a modern ODI batter was his performance as he used the full arsenal of shots, be it the swift pull against pace, the lofted drives against spin, or his splendidly timed sweeps.
It was Gaikwad every time to answer South Africa’s demands for a pressure-building ball, by driving and pulling it for a boundary. Besides, his ton happens to be the second-quickest innings of 100 by an Indian vs South Africa leading to the fastest one being that of Yusuf Pathan, who made his ton off 68 balls. Gaikwad was finally out for a brilliant 83-ball 105 in his attempt to prolong the innings and yet the statement of the extent of the talented young man was very evident from his very first time at the big stage.
Moreover, at the same time, on the other side, there was Virat Kohli, who once more reminded the world why he is still regarded as one of the greatest ODI batters ever. Starting off his innings with a defensive technique that was very late and played under his eyes to counter the movement of the ball, Kohli, however, after being set, entered into a new gear almost without any indication of the change. The transformation was shown by turning ones into twos, spotting the gaps with great accuracy, and at the same time, taking the bowlers by surprise through constantly changing the strike.
Not long after the occurrence of an event, Kohli acts in a very logical way by using a plan to tackle the opponent which is what he did against South Africa bowlers. Indeed he went on to build his innings slowly more like a mason who constructs a building brick by brick and at the same time picks up the pace without any risk of his wicket being taken. In fact, before the South African bowling unit could come to grips with the situation, Kohli was on his way to yet another ODI hundred, in fact, a 53rd one, and ending a run of total dominance which is very much still intact.
An Indelible Cooperation
Besides, Kohli, and Gaikwad together formed such a partnership which was their bowling counterpart’s nightmare.
The two players were really an ideal match for each other: Gaikwad was creative and full of new shot inventions, whereas Kohli was all about control and regularity.
Not only did their stand rescue the Indian team from the initial trouble but also put the team in a dominating position thus opening the way for a good total to be set.
