Rajinikanth and Ruturaj Gaikwad©Twitter
In the past few seasons, Ruturaj Gaikwad has emerged as a top performer for the MS Dhoni led Chennai Super Kings. In the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL), he is currently among the top scorers with two half-centuries in four games. However, he couldn’t score much against Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday and fell for 8 in a home game at MA Chidambaram Stadium. During the course of the match, India Spin Great Harbhajan Singh drew parallels between Superstar actor Rajinikanth and Gaikwad. And the similarities were uncanny.
“Ruturaj Gaikwad and Rajinikanth sir. They have the same surname. Both are residents of Maharashtra and both are popular in Chennai,” Harbhajan Singh said while commenting on Wednesday’s CSK vs RR match.
Rajinikanth’s original name is Shivaji Rao Gaikwad and his ancestors were from Maharashtra.
As for the match, RR opener Jos Buttler wasn’t exactly devastating in his approach but still managed in the 18th half-century of his IPL career as Rajasthan Royals posted a decent 175 for 8 against Chennai Super Kings.
While Royals were 135 for 4 after 15 overs, the last five overs were not as productive as they had expected with only 40 runs added and four wickets lost in the process.
Ravindra Jadeja (2/21 in 4 overs) was menacing as usual on a surface that helped the spinners, even as Buttler hit three huge sixes in his 36-ball-52. He had a good second wicket score of 77 runs with Devdutt Padikkal (38 from 26 balls), who was back in his element after his battle against Punjab Kings.
Towards the end, Shimron Hetmyer (30 from 18 balls) was an ever impressive finisher, while Tushar Deshpande (2/37) gave up just eight runs in the 20th over.
With PTI inputs
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