On Saturday, 2 October, when Ruturaj Gaikwad entered the nervous nineties against Rajasthan Royals, there were still more than 12 balls left and his hundred looked like a certainty. But what happened after that was just mayhem, Ravindra Jadeja, who was batting on the other end, took strike on 14 of the 16 balls that were left to be bowled. But the man of the moment, Gaikwad got the strike just at the right moment when two balls were left and he needed five runs to get to his hundred.
But when a slow ball bouncer was declared not wide, the target was clear, one ball and a six for Gaikwad to get to his first hundred, and what did the Punekar do? He pulled a back of the length delivery to a long 108 meters six in the banks of the Shiekh Zayed Stadium to give the air probably its biggest punch and celebrate one of the best innings ever played in IPL history. It was also a fitting end to what was a spectacle by Gaikwad.
It has to be stressed upon that Ruturaj has scored 312 runs from his last five appearances at a massive average of 104 runs per innings. He currently holds the Orange Cap in this edition as well with 508 runs to his name from 12 innings.
The 24-year-old, who reached his fifty in 43 balls and was sluggish at the start (which has kind of become his mojo), but what happened in the next 17 balls, was just mind-blowing. Of the five sixes, he hit all of them after passing the fifty runs landmark and out of the nine fours, four came after fifty as well, meaning that he scored 46 of his last 51 runs in boundaries.
Thanks to the hundred by Ruturaj, who is now also the Orange Cap holder with 508 runs in just 12 innings, the Super Kings reached 189-4 in their 20 overs.