Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
The stage was set for Match 30 of IPL 2021 between two of the biggest powerhouses - Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings - up against each other. As the match kicked off in Dubai, it looked like the defending champion would finish the match quite early with CSK reeling at 24/4 in 6 overs. However, these are the kind of situations when the Indian youngsters rose to the occasion and the Yellow Army found one hero in form of Ruturaj Gaikwad.
Having seen wickets falling like a pack of cards at the other end, the CSK opener did not lose his focus and concentration. He kept playing his shots safely at the other end and runs kept on coming at a decent rate. He was involved in two crucial partnerships, first with Ravindra Jadeja and then with Dwayne Bravo, which took his side to a competitive total of 156/6 in 20 overs.
Gaikwad stuns Bumrah with a brilliant shot
Gaikwad played some mesmerizing shots during his knock on Sunday. The first one which caught everyone's attention was a brilliant reverse sweep against Krunal Pandya when CSK were under pressure. That shot really let him loose as he produced quite a few magical hits after that. However, the best of the lot came on the final over of innings.
Jasprit Bumrah tried to bowl his trademark yorker delivery, against which the batsmen usually have no answers. But Gaikwad looked absolutely ready for it. The right-handed batsman got into a perfect position to convert the yorker into a full-toss as he swept the ball towards backward square leg boundary for a 76m six. It was audacity at its very best as the on-air commentators also looked short of words to describe the brilliance of the youngster.
CSK opener plays a match-winning knock
Ruturaj Gaikwad went on to play an unbeaten knock of 88 runs off only 58 deliveries to get his side to a match-winning total on a difficult batting wicket. At a venue where all the big names (on both sides) struggled to time the ball, Gaikwad smashed 9 fours and 6 sixes and registered an explosive strike-rate of 151.72.