استراح Ruturaj Gaikwad من IND vs BAN T20Is لإبقائه “جاهزًا” لكأس Border-Gavaskar

Ruturaj Gaikwad is likely to travel to Australia as a replacement opener for Yashasvi Jaiswal. Many had pointed how baffling Gaikwad’s exclusion was from India’s squad for the Bangladesh T20I series. With neither Jaiswal nor Shubman Gill named, it was expected that Gaikwad would be picked as India’s second opener alongside Abhishek Sharma, who’d impressed everyone in Zimbabwe.

But, Gaikwad wasn’t included. Instead, he found himself being named as Rest of India’s captain in the Irani Cup 2024 against Mumbai. As it turns out, this was intentional. The Indian management wants Gaikwad to keep playing red-ball cricket until the India vs Australia Test series. They want to take the batter from Maharashtra to Australia as Jaiswal’s replacement and India’s 3rd opener.

“There has been a lot of hue and cry after Gaikwad wasn’t picked for the T20Is against Bangladesh despite regular T20I openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill being rested. The selectors and team management want him as the third opener in Australia. You need a third opener there as injuries could take place during a long five-Test series. There aren’t too many good candidates for the third openers’ slot than Gaikwad. He needs to keep playing red-ball matches. This is why he has been asked to lead ROI in the Irani Cup,” a source told the Times of India.