Ruturaj Gaikwad slams a ton in the opening day of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy

Ruturaj Gaikwad (Source: Twitter)

Ruturaj Gaikwad returned to feature for Maharashtra in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2022 and hit his only second hundred in the T20 format against Services on Wednesday (October 12). Furthermore, he also served as the leader of the team. 

Invited to bat first, Maharashtra lost their opener Yash Nahar (1) early. Then, the duo of Gaikwad and Rahul Tripathi added 49 runs to resurrect the team's innings. 

After the dismissal of Tripathi, Gaikwad increased his tempo and churned out runs at a lavish rate. Along the way, the likes of Naushad Shaikh (24) and Azim Kazi (13) contributed at the other end. 

Gaikwad was dismissed by Mohit Kumar for a well-compiled 112 off 65 balls, laced with 12 fours and five sixes. Maharashtra amassed 185 runs in their designated quota of 20 overs. 

In response, Rahul Singh (59) and Amit Pachhara (50*) played a calculative inning to seal the chase in the last over for Services.

Gaikwad's ton certainly went in vain but will give him added confidence for the rest of the tournament. Recently, the 25-year-old played for the Indian team in the ODI series against South Africa. 

However, after scoring only 19 in the first game, he was dropped from the last two ODI matches. Along with Gaikwad, all other Indian team members immediately took a flight from Delhi yesterday to play for their respective state teams in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. 

With two losses in two games, Maharashtra are at the penultimate position in the Elite Group C. 

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