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Ruturaj Gaikwad, the Indian opening batter, has been ruled out of the second T20I of the three-match series against South Africa, scheduled to be played at St George’s Park in Gqeberha, on Tuesday, December 12. Notably, the first T20I of the three-match series between India and South Africa was called off without a toss taking place due to incessant rains at the Kingsmeda in Durban on Sunday, December 10.
The home side won the toss and invited the Indian side to bat first. The forecast for the second T20I isn’t ideal at St George’s Park in Gqeberha with rains expected to interrupt play at various stages of the contest.
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Talking about Ruturaj Gaikwad in the shortest format of the game, he led India to their first-ever gold medal at the Asian Games 2023 men’s cricket competition in Hangzhou, China in October. After this, he played a key role in India defeating Australia by 4-1 in a five-match series at home in the shortest format before arriving in South Africa to play in Test, ODI, and T20I series. The reason for the 26-year-old sitting out from the second T20I against South Africa is understood to be an illness, revealed during the live broadcast on Star Sports.
In the five T20Is for India against Australia, Ruturaj Gaikwad was the top scorer among all the players from both teams, putting together 223 runs at an average of 55.75 and a strike rate of 159.28. He also notched up the second-highest individual score of 123 runs unbeaten in the T20I format for India behind Shubman Gill’s 126 from earlier this year.
