Ruturaj Gaikwad strengthens case for India selection with match-winning 117 against South Africa A

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad strengthened his credentials for a national call-up with a match-winning ton against South Africa A in Rajkot on Thursday. Chasing 286, Gaikwad top-scored with 117 to help sail India A home with three balls to spare.

Gaikwad, vice-captain of the side led by Tilak Varma, stitched an opening stand of 64 runs alongside Abhishek Sharma. None of the other Indian batters crossed the 40+ run mark, and hence that put the onus on the CSK star to drop anchor and steady the innings that was stuck in a precarious position.

Varma scored 39, and was ably supported by Nitish Kumar Reddy’s knock of 37, but the Pune-born batter stole the show with some impeccable composure in his innings that was laden with 12 boundaries.

Earlier, India A had produced a formidable bowling outing by reducing their opponents to 53/5 under 12 overs. The surface offered considerable bite to the pacers, ensuring that the trio of Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, and Prasidh Krishna shared five wickets amongst them.

Delano Potgieter and Bjorn Fortuin rescued the situation for the visitors though, accumulating 90 and 59 runs respectively, ably supported by Dian Forrester’s contribution of 77, which took them to a competitive total.

Indian spinners like Nishant Sindhu and Vipraj Nigam were rendered toothless, but it was Gaikwad’s innings that garnered all praise, especially since he has been outcasted from the squad across formats in the last year or so. His own inconsistency in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and injury concerns didn’t help his case, but with positive performances across both white-ball and red-ball cricket this season, the stylish right-hander could storm back into contention for a place in the top-order for India soon. Maybe, even starting from the upcoming ODI series against South Africa onwards.

First Published: Nov 14, 2025 3:20 PM IST