Gaikwad continues his good run with the willow

Gaikwad, the flamboyant Maharashtra skipper, came good with the willow yet again, scoring a 54-ball 80, which contained eight boundaries and three mighty sixes

Fearless batting seems to have become a habit for young batter Ruturaj Gaikwad, whose good run with the willow continued even on Friday as he stroked his second half-century to help Maharashtra win their first game (against Punjab) in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 Trophy here.

Gaikwad plays a cut shot during the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy match against Punjab, in Lucknow, on Friday. (SOURCED)

Having scored a 30-ball 51, laced with eight boundaries and a six against Tamil Nadu in the opening match of the Elite Group A on Thursday, Gaikwad was on song on Friday and his 54-ball 80, which contained eight boundaries and three mighty sixes, remained a treat to watch.

The batter, who scored 419 runs for the side last season and remained the second highest run getter in the tournament behind Devdutt Padikkal (580 runs) got down to business from the very second ball of the innings. He cut, drove and pulled at ease against all the six bowlers of Punjab.

With a crashing four through the covers on a full-pitched delivery off pacer Sanvir Singh, on the very second ball of the innings, Gaikwad, who scored the most runs in the IPL in the 14th season and won the Orange Cap, made his intentions very clear on the red soil pitch of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium.

Before hitting Siddharth Kaul’s over pitched delivery on the leg side for another cracking boundary, Gaikwad pulled Arshdeep Singh’s slower one for a boundary in the fine leg region. He didn’t allow spinners Abhishek Sharma and Mayank Markandey to settle, hitting powerful sixes, including the one in the extra cover area, which also helped the batter complete his 15th fifty in this format of the game in the 60th encounter.

By the time Gaikwad, who added 85 runs for the second-wicket with Naushad Shaikh (23, 23b, 1x4) and 48 runs for the third wicket with Azim Kazi (28*, 26b, 2x4), offered a straight catch to substitute Karan Kaila off Kaul at point in the 17th over, Maharashtra were within distance to win the 138-run chase.

Earlier, Punjab never got going, as barring opener Shubhman Gill (44, 39b, 3x4, 1x6) and stylish Gurkeerat Mann(41, 32b, 2x4, 2x6), others kept struggling against a disciplined Maharashtra bowling attack. Both Divyang Hinganekar (2/17) and Asha Palkar (2/30) kept bowling on right spots to keep Punjab batters in check before restricting them for 137/6.

Meanwhile on the B Ground, defending champions Tamil Nadu scored their second consecutive win in the tournament, defeating Odisha in a one-run thriller.

BRIEF SCORES

Punjab 137/6 in 20 overs (S Gill 44, G Mann 41, D Hinganekar2/17, A Palkar 2/30) lost to Maharashtra 138/3 in 17.3 overs (R Gaikwad 80, A Kazi 28*, A Sharma 1/13).

Tamil Nadu 165/5 in 20 overs (N Jagadeesan 37, B Sudharsan 28, B Aparajith 44*, M Mohammed 27*, A Raut 2/25) beat Odisha 164/6 in 20 overs (S Senapati 67, G Poddar 29, A Raut 38*, T Natarajan 2/38).