'Rutu ka raj' - Fans elated as Ruturaj Gaikwad smashes his maiden T20I ton in third T20I against Australia

Ruturaj Gaikwad also became the first Indian batter to score a T20I century against Australia, with his century in the third T20I of the five-match T20I series.

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Mathew K
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Ruturaj Gaikwad (File Photo: Twitter)

Ruturaj Gaikwad (File Photo: Twitter)

Star Indian opener Ruturaj Gaikwad smashed his maiden T20I ton in the ongoing third ODI of the five-match T20I series against Australia. He played a swashbuckling knock of 123 runs off just 57 balls with 13 fours and 7 sixes, hitting the Australian bowlers across all corners of the ground.

Other than him, skipper Suryakumar Yadav and middle-order batter Tilak Varma also played the knocks of 39 and 31 runs, respectively. On the back of these knocks, India managed to post a total of 222 runs for the loss of 3 wickets in the allotted 20 overs.

Kane Richardson, Jason Behrendorff, and Nathan Aaron Hardie scalped 1 wicket each for Australia. Earlier, it was Australia who won the toss and put India into bat first.

Ruturaj Gaikwad on the way of becoming vital T20I element for India

While chasing the target, Australia have now scored 60 runs for the loss of 5.1 overs in the second innings. Star left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh provided the first breakthrough for India in the fifth over by claiming the wicket of opener Aaron Hardie.

Talking about the ongoing five-match T20I series between India and Australia, the hosts India are leading the series by a margin of 2-0 with two consecutive wins in the first two matches.

Coming back to Ruturaj Gaikwad, with this century in the third T20I against Australia, he has now scored 458 runs in the 15 innings of the 17 matches, he appeared into bat so far; The 26-year-old has now a very good average of 38.16, including a century and 3 half centuries to his name.

He was also a captain of young Team India, which won the gold medal in the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou. He is also being counted among the vital players who could play a pivotal role for the Indian team in the T20 World Cup 2024, which is set to be played in the USA and West Indies.

Hereโ€™s how fans reacted to the blistering century by Ruturaj Gaikwad:

India vs Australia 2023 Twitter Reactions