Ruturaj Gaikwad

Ruturaj Dasharath Gaikwad (born 31 January 1997) is an Indian international cricketer who captains the Maharashtra cricket team in the T20, List A format and the current captain of Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He made his international debut for the India cricket team in July 2021 against Sri Lanka. He was the captain of the India squad which won the gold medal at the 2022 Asian Games. He was the leading run-scorer in the 2021 IPL season and also won emerging player of the season. He is captain of the Maharashtra team in T20 and List A cricket. He is the only Indian player to score a century against the Australian international team in T20Is.

Early life
Ruturaj is from Pune, Maharashtra. His father is Dasharath Gaikwad, who was a Defence Research Development Organisation's (DRDO) employee. His mother Sawita Gaikwad is a teacher in a municipality school. According to Gaikwad his parents never insisted him to study more and play less cricket. Gaikwad's native village is Pargaon Memane in Saswad area of Pune district, Maharashtra. His mother tongue is Marathi.

He did his primary schooling from St Joseph's Boys' High School, Pune in Khadki. He studied in Lakashmibai Nadgude school in Pimple Nilakh, Pune. He did college studies from Marathvada Mitra Mandal's Polytechnic.

Early career
Gaikwad at the age of 13 joined the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation's (PCMC) Varroc Dilip Vengsarkar Academy' in Thergaon in Pimpri Chinchwad, Pune.

In Cadence trophy of 2010, He scored 63* (71) against Mumbai's MIG Cricket club for Varroc Vengsarkar Academy, he got man of the match. His academy beat MIG Cricket club by 7 wickets, Cadence Cricket ground.

At Maharashtra invitational tournament of 2015, he scored 306 runs in a match in partnership of 522 runs with his teammate Vinay.

Debut for Maharashtra
He made his first-class debut for Maharashtra in the 2016–17 Ranji Trophy on 6 October 2016. He made his Twenty20 debut for Maharashtra in the 2016–17 Inter State Twenty-20 Tournament on 2 February 2017. In the 2019 Ranji trophy season, he scored 108 (199) in first inning and 76 (170) in Pune in second inning, while opening for Maharashtra Cricket team versus Chhattisgarh. He became man of the match in this match. He made his List A debut for Maharashtra in the 2016–17 Vijay Hazare Trophy on 25 February 2017. In this tournament he scored 444 runs along 63.42 average in 7 matches. He scored 3 half centuries and one century. He was the third highest run getter in 2016–17 Vijay Hazare trophy.

In Indian domestic cricket structure he played for India A, India B, India Blue, Maharashtra and India U-23. In October 2018, Gaikwad was named in India B's squad for the 2018–19 Deodhar Trophy. In December 2018, he was named in India's team for the 2018 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup.

He scored four centuries in four matches in Mandke trophy of 2019.

In June 2019, he scored 187 not out for India A against Sri Lanka A. In August 2019, he was named in the India Blue team's squad for the 2019–20 Duleep Trophy. In October 2019, he was named in India B's squad for the 2019–20 Deodhar Trophy.

In the 2021 Mushtaq Ali trophy, Gaikwad captained Maharashtra and scored 259 runs in five matches at an average of 51.80, including three fifties at a strike rate of 150.71. He finished as one of the top scorers in the tournament. in the 2021–22 Vijay Hazare trophy he scored four hundreds and equalled Virat Kohli's record of scoring maximum hundreds in single Vijay Hazare tournament and scored over 600 runs in the tournament for Maharashtra.

In November 2022, during 2nd quarter-final match between Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh of 2022–23 Vijay Hazare Trophy, Gaikwad became the first batter to hit seven sixes in an over (one off a no-ball) in all forms of cricket. With the 108-run knock against Saurashtra ( In the Final of Vijay Hazare Trophy 2022–23), Gaikwad now owns the record for the most centuries by any player in Vijay Hazare Trophy history (12). Former Indian cricketer Robin Uthappa and Gaikwad's current Maharashtra teammate Ankit Bawne jointly held the record previously (11 centuries each).

2023
In 2023, he was hired by a Pune-based franchise for Maharashtra Premier League (MPL) for ₹14.8 crore (for 3 years). The franchise later named as Puneri Bappa announced Ruturaj Gaikwad as their captain for inaugural season.

International career
In June 2021, Gaikwad was named in India's One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) squads for their series against Sri Lanka. He made his T20I debut on 28 July 2021, for India against Sri Lanka. In December 2021, Gaikwad was named in India's ODI squad for their series against South Africa. In January 2022, Gaikwad was again named in India's ODI squad, this time for their home series against the West Indies. In June 2022, he scored his maiden T20I half-century against South Africa.

In July 2022, he was named in India's ODI squad for their away series against the West Indies. In October 2022, he was named in India's ODI squad, for their series against South Africa. He made his ODI debut on 6 October 2022 against South Africa.

In June 2023, Gaikwad was named in India's Test and ODI squads for their series against West Indies.

In July 2023, Gaikwad was named as India's vice-captain for the series against Ireland under a returning Jasprit Bumrah. He ended the series as the leading run scorer with 77 runs from the two matches with 58 of those runs coming in the second match.

In September 2023, Gaikwad was named in India's ODI squad for the first two matches in the series against Australia. On September 22, he scored 71 runs in the first match of the series which was his maiden half-century in ODI cricket.

In July 2023, Gaikwad was also named as India's T20I Captain for the 2022 Asian Games. He led India to win the gold medal and became the first Indian captain to do so in Men's Cricket at the Asian Games and second Indian captain after MS Dhoni to win a T20I tournament on their first attempt.

In November 2023, Gaikwad was named the vice-captain for the first three matches of the T20I series against Australia. A mix-up in the first match led to him departing for a diamond duck; he followed that up with back to back good performances scoring 58 (43) in the second T20I and scoring his maiden international century of 123 (57) in the third T20I.

He became the ninth Indian batter to score a T20I century and his score is the second highest by any Indian in the T20I format. He also became the first Indian to score a century against Australia in T20Is and his score is the highest by any batter against Australia in T20Is.

Indian Premier League
In December 2018, Gaikwad was bought by the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the player auction for the 2019 Indian Premier League.

On 2 October 2021, Gaikwad scored his first IPL century, with 101 not out against the Rajasthan Royals in the 2021 tournament. On 15 October, Chennai Super Kings beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 27 runs in the finals with Gaikwad contributing to CSK's total by scoring 32 runs off 27 balls. He won the Orange Cap for scoring the most runs (635) in the 2021 tournament and was also awarded the Emerging Player of the Year award.

After his good performances in the 2021 season, Gaikwad was retained by Chennai Super Kings for ₹6 crores ahead of the 2022 IPL auction.

On March 21, 2024, Chennai Super Kings announced the appointment of Gaikwad as their captain. This decision followed the resignation of Mahendra Singh Dhoni from the captaincy role, a position he held for a remarkable 14 seasons. Dhoni's decision to step down occurred on the eve of the 17th IPL season, marking a significant transition in leadership for the franchise. Gaikwad's appointment as captain positioned him as the fourth individual to assume this prestigious role for the Chennai Super Kings.

Personal life
Gaikwad lives in the Sangvi area of Pimpri-Chinchwad in Pune. He is originally from Pargaon Memane. On 3 June 2023, Gaikwad married his long-time girlfriend Utkarsha Pawar at Mahabaleshwar.