"Happy birthday champ" - Twiteratti wishes Ruturaj Gaikwad on his 25th birthday
Young batting prodigy Ruturaj Gaikwad celebrates his 25th birthday today (January 31).
Since making an impression in the 2016-17 Vijay Hazare Trophy to winning the IPL title with Chennai Super Kings as the highest run-scorer in 2021, Ruturaj has come up the ranks quickly.
Gaikwad's fans and his teammates, including the likes of former India cricketer Suresh Raina, have flooded social media with birthday wishes.
Here are some of the best reactions:
Happy Birthday champ @Ruutu1331 Sending you lots of love & wishing all the success to you 🥳 #RuturajGaikwad https://t.co/m60ycMIrNW
Success doesn't come too early but doubters come along with the failures.
Either that breaks you or instills the hunger to prove the your mettle by trusting your ability plus conquering some weakness.
Happy Birthday Raja
Happy Birthday Ruturaj Gaikwad. https://t.co/KlVBXPvtjp
Ruturaj Gaikwad is a sensational young talent and he's shown his class in the last two IPL seasons. The youngest ever Orange Cap winner, holds the record for most Man Of The Matches Award in a single season. A very happy birthday to the star of CSK and future of India. https://t.co/etfPZ4qv2M
On Ruturaj Gaikwad's birthday can we talk about this unbelievable come back? 24-4 after 6. 3 scores of 0 & 6 single digit scores. Stood there till the end & scored 88 at 151 s.r. MI missed their playoffs spot by 1 point & he won this match against them with the bat outta nowhere. https://t.co/8U96Vj07e9
𝐑utu 𝐆ethu 💛
#SuperBirthday #WhistlePodu 🦁 https://t.co/RqEPzHYnGH
Happy Birthday Ruturaj Gaikwad. This was the shot that completely turned me into his fan. The audacity to do it against Bumrah. Unreal. https://t.co/4i6FeQ7GbC
Ruturaj, who has been on a run-scoring spree, will next be seen in action during the limited-overs series against West Indies this month. India are scheduled to play three ODIs and as many T20Is against Kieron Pollard & Co.
The T20Is will kick off in Ahmedabad on February 6 while the ODIs will be played in Kolkata.
"Changes are really absurd" - Saba Karim on Ruturaj Gaikwad's exclusion from T20I squad
The All India Selection Committee, chaired by former cricketer Chetan Sharma, has left Ruturaj out of the three-match T20I series. The decision comes as a surprise after his recent form with the bat.
Former India selector and cricketer Saba Karim has also called the move 'absurd', stating he was initially picked in the side for his T20 performances. Speaking on his YouTube podcast Khelniti, Karim said:
“Ruturaj is not part of the T20 team but has been included in ODIs. He was chosen for international cricket on the basis of his T20 performances. So a couple of changes are really absurd. Hopefully, we get a settled combination soon because there is not much time left (for the World Cup)."
India's T20I squad: Rohit Sharma (Capt), KL Rahul (vc), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel.