"He took on the spinners really well": Ruturaj Gaikwad on Abhishek Sharma following his maiden ton
Jul 07, 2024
Harare [Zimbabwe], July 7 : After playing an unbeaten knock for his side in the second match of the five-match series, star India batter Ruturaj Gaikwad heaped praise on young Abhishek Sharma following his maiden century in the shortest format of the game.
Abhishek played an outstanding innings where the left-hander smashed 100 runs in just 47 balls with the help of seven fours and eight sixes.
On the other hand, Gaikwad played a marvellous unbeaten innings of 77 runs in 47 balls which was laced with 11 boundaries and a maximum in his innings. The right-hand-batter slammed these runs at a strike rate of 163.83.
The 27-year-old spoke about the pitch conditions. He stated that it was tough for him at the start of the innings.
"It was pretty much tough, the first 15 balls I played, I didn't even middle a single ball. Wicket was slightly tough, me and Abhishek talked that we should take our time and then go for our shots and it worked. He took on the spinners really well, we talked about maintaining our shape while playing our shots, the wicket was slightly two-paced, some balls were skidding and some were holding up. I think we need to stick to hard lengths, stick to good lengths, just Test match lengths, keep it simple and try to hit top of off," Gaikwad said in the mid-innings interview.
Coming to the first innings of the 2nd T20I, Team India skipper Shubman Gill won the toss and elected to bat first.
Batting first, India slammed a massive total of 234/2 in 20 overs. Other than Gaikwad and Abhishek. Rinku Singh played a quickfire knock of 48 runs from just 22 balls which included five sixes and two fours in his innings at a strike rate of 218.18.
For the hosts, one wicket each was snapped by Blessing Muzarbani and Wellington Masakadza in their respective spells in the match.
