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Ravichandran Ashwin has explained the ‘out of syllabus’ problem that keeps Ruturaj Gaikwad away from India’s T20I side.
Ruturaj Gaikwad captains CSK in the IPL.
Ravichandran Ashwin believes Sanju Samson’s emergence and the high competition for the top-order spots in India’s T20I team has pushed Ruturaj Gaikwad out of the reckoning, despite his obvious talent.
Chennai Super Kings captain Gaikwad has been a consistent performer in the IPL. He made his T20I debut as early as 2021 and was in excellent touch when he got consistent chances in 2023-24. In 2023, he scored 365 runs, including a century against Australia, and added 133 runs at 66.50 in 2024.
However, India didn’t pick him for the 2024 T20 World Cup. And after that, when Rohit Sharma retired and Yashasvi Jaiswal got busy with Test assignments, India picked Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma as T20I openers.
“India’s top order is packed. Up top, we have a lot of contenders. Ruturaj, Yashasvi, Shubman Gill… they are either playing one-day cricket or aren’t in the scheme of things. In his last T20I, Gaikwad scored a 100, took Maxwell to the cleaners. But he hasn’t gotten an opportunity since. It’s because there are so many people competing for two spots,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
“Sanju Samson has taken one out of those two places. He scored two centuries. And came out of the syllabus. A No. 3 batter opened, scored runs and booked his slot. For the other one, pressure was mounting on Abhishek Sharma. He knew that players were gunning for that slot, including Gaikwad. The way he played under pressure. He got a message from the team management that you have the freedom to go and play carefree,” the recently-retired spinner added.
India are currently playing in a five-T20I series against England at home. Samson and Abhishek have retained their spots as openers.
In the first match at Eden Gardens on Wednesday, Samson scored a brisk 20-ball 26 to set the platform for India. Abhishek built on it with a brilliant 34-ball 79 that helped India seal a seven-wicket win.
At the moment, Abhishek’s spot is under a bigger threat than Samson’s. The latter scored two centuries in the last series against South Africa and recently, skipper Suryakumar Yadav had said he was ‘very happy’ with him, and that the wicketkeeping department was settled for the foreseeable future.
