Ruturaj Gaikwad scored his maiden century in the Indian Premier League (IPL) to lead the Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) to a strong position against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. 

On MS Dhoni‘s 200th match as an IPL captain, Gaikwad stole all the headlines with a sublime knock, helping the three-time champions to put up an imposing total of 189 runs for the loss of four wickets at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium. 

Gaikwad‘s knock included nine fours and five sixes, including one of the final delivery of the innings as he picked up the short delivery from Mustafizur Rehman early and slammed it over the mid-wicket boundary to spark frantic celebrations in the CSK dugout. 

The century was also the ninth for CSK in IPL history, with Gaikwad also being the youngest player to reach three figures in the franchise’s history. It was also the seventh vs Rajasthan in IPL and only the third vs the franchise by a CSK batter. 

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Speaking on his knock after the innings, Gaikwad said he initially planned to bat till at least the 13th or the 14th over so that he can capitalise in the later stages. He also said the wicket was holding up a bit in the powerplay overs, and that the Rajasthan bowlers started well. 

Playing down his innings, Gaikwad said it is the team total that matters in the end, and not the individual score. “At the end of the day the team score matters. Individual score doesn’t matter, unless and until your team is winning,” he said. 

Speaking on the six off the final delivery to get to his century, Gaikwad said, “I had timed that ball well and it was the shorter boundary, so I knew it was going to be a six. We were looking for 160, then I thought 170, 180 and finally we got 190.”

Meanwhile, Gaikwad was well supported by Ravindra Jadeja (32 from 15) on the other end as the two scored 73 runs off the last five overs. Jadeja’s innings was glittered with four boundaries and a solitary six.