Former Indian national cricket team pacer and current Gujarat Titans (GT) head coach Ashish Nehra has praised Ruturaj Gaikwad and tagged him as a three-format player.

Opening batsman Ruturaj Gaikwad, 26, has also started showcasing his talent at the international level after performing consistently for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Maharashtra in domestic cricket.

Now, Indian selectors have started considering Ruturaj Gaikwad as a three-format player and he has been included in the Test, ODI and T20I squads for the upcoming tour of South Africa.

In the ongoing T20I series against Australia, Ruturaj Gaikwad has given an outstanding performance. He went out for a diamond duck in the first match, but then followed up with scores of 58, 123* and 32 with one more game left in the series. Notably, his unbeaten knock of 123 runs was in vain as the Australians had won that game thanks to Glenn Maxwell’s sensational century.

The kind of elegance that Ruturaj Gaikwad displays is incredible – Ashish Nehra

Speaking to Jio Cinema, Nehra said that Gaikwad brings strength to T20 cricket.

“Everyone knows what kind of player (Ruturaj Gaikwad) is. When talking about Yashasvi Jaiswal, his game is completely different from that of Ruturaj Gaikwad. Strength is also needed in the T20 format and that is what Gaikwad brings,” Nehra said.

He added that the elegance of the “three format” player Gaikwad is incredible and outstanding.

“There is no doubt that Ruturaj Gaikwad is a three-format player for India. The kind of elegance that Ruturaj Gaikwad shows is incredible, amazing and it was a big, big, big coup,” Nehra added.

The Indian national cricket team, under the leadership of Suryakumar Yadav, has already clinched the series by winning three of the first four matches and the last match of the series will be played on Sunday. The last match of the series will take place at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.