Chennai Super Kings (CSK) put in a scintillating performance after Indian batsman Ruturaj Gaikwad scored a magnificent innings in the second T20I against the Zimbabwe National Cricket Team. The match between the two teams was held on Sunday at the Harare Sports Club in Harare.

Ruturaj Gaikwad was one of the star performers for Team India in the second T20I against Zimbabwe. The batsman played a match-winning innings and helped India win the game by a huge margin and level the five-match series 1-1, after having lost the first game by 13 runs.

Ruturaj Gaikwad, who failed to make a splash in the first match, made sure to put in a superlative effort with the bat. The Chennai Super Kings batsman took a while to get going but once he came in, he made sure to bat till the end.

Ruturaj Gaikwad played some magnificent knocks in his innings and played a perfect role as second fiddle to Abhishek Sharma. The opening batsman, who was playing his second international match, scored a brutal century as the duo put together 137 runs for the second wicket.

Ruturaj Gaikwad hit a brilliant half-century and ended his innings of unbeaten 77 runs off 47 balls. He batted at a strike rate of over 163 and also hit 11 fours and 1 six in his innings. He faced some criticism after failing in the first game but he responded to all of them in style.

Apart from Ruturaj Gaikwad and Abhishek Sharma, Rinku Singh played an unbeaten innings of 48 runs off 22 balls and had a strike rate of 218. He also hit 2 fours and 5 sixes in his innings. Relying on his brutal batting power in the end, India finished with a total of 234 runs on the board.

With the ball, India were on top as they kept adding wickets at regular intervals and bowled out Zimbabwe for 134 runs to win the game by 100 runs. Mukesh Kumar and Avesh Khan picked up three wickets each. Apart from them, Ravi Bishnoi contributed with two wickets while Washington Sundar took one wicket.

Chennai Super Kings put up a dazzling post after Ruturaj Gaikwad’s innings

After Chennai Super Kings player Ruturaj Gaikwad played a sensational innings of 77 runs, the franchise posted a special post. On their Twitter account, they highlighted the bond between MS Dhoni and Ruturaj. They said:

“77 on 7/7 This Rutu-Thala bond! #ZIMvIND.”

7️⃣7️⃣💥 the 7️⃣/7️⃣Though this Rutu-Thala bond! 🥳 #ZIMvIND

— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) July 7, 2024

On Sunday, July 7, MS Dhoni celebrated his birthday. The former Indian captain is the only captain to have won three major ICC trophies and has also won five titles as captain of the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL). In the recent edition of the league, Dhoni passed the baton to Gaikwad, who did a decent job as captain of the team.