Ruturaj Gaikwad breaks KL Rahul’s record during IND vs AUS 4th T20I
Indian opener Ruturaj Gaikwad broke KL Rahul’s record of being the fastest Indian batter to score 4,000 runs in Men’s T20 cricket during the fourth T20I against Australia in Raipur on Friday. Gaikwad needed 116 innings to touch the 4,000-run mark in T20s, while Rahul got there in 117 innings.
The Men in Blue beat Australia by 20 runs in the fourth T20I at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur. Sent into bat after losing the toss, the hosts put up 174/9 on the board and held Australia to 154/7.
Yashasvi Jaiswal (37 off 28), Rinku Singh (46 off 29), and Jitesh Sharma (35 off 19) made impressive contributions with the bat, while left-arm spinner Axar Patel (3/16) and leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi (1/17) starred with the ball.
Gaikwad scored a sedate 32 off 28 balls, hitting three fours and a six. Among Indian players who reached 4000 T20 runs in the quickest time, Gaikwad and Rahul are followed by Virat Kohli (138), Suresh Raina (143) and Rishabh Pant (147).
Overall, West Indies legend Chris Gayle (107) leads the list of batters who have been fastest to reach 4000 T20 runs by innings. Gayle is followed by Shaun Marsh (113), Babar Azam (115), and Devon Conway (116).
Meanwhile, with the 20-run win in Raipur, Team India clinched the five-match T20I series 3-1, with one game in hand.
Ruturaj Gaikwad has been in impressive form in the T20I series against Australia
Gaikwad’s series against Australia started on a disastrous note as he was run out for a duck in the first T20I in Visakhapatnam, following a horrible mix-up with Jaiswal. In the subsequent three matches, though, he has registered scores of 58, 123*, and 32 in Thiruvananthapuram, Guwahati, and Raipur, respectively.
The opening batter’s ton in Guwahati went in vain as a splendid hundred from Glenn Maxwell led Australia to victory in the third T20I.
Gaikwad has played 18 T20I matches for India, scoring 490 runs at an average of 37.69 and a strike rate of 142.02. In his T20 career, he has 4025 runs in 121 games, averaging 38.70 at a strike rate of 139.12.