Ruturaj Gaikwad is in the form of his life right now. He won the Orange Cap award in the IPL 2021 season and then performed brilliantly for Maharashtra in the domestic tournaments. While Gaikwad’s batting performances helped Chennai Super Kings become IPL 2021 winners, Maharashtra could neither win the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy nor the Vijay Hazare Trophy despite his great performances.
The Vijay Hazare Trophy is currently underway in India. It is the biggest 50-over domestic tournament of the country. Maharashtra were in Elite Group D, and as per the tournament’s rules, top two teams from the elite groups progressed to the next round. Maharashtra registered four wins in five matches, but they still failed to make the cut to the knockout stage.
Kerala and Madhya Pradesh won four matches each as well. They finished above Maharashtra because of their better net run rate. Meanwhile, in the other groups, Himachal Pradesh, Vidarbha, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh qualified by winning three matches only. Himachal and Tamil Nadu topped the groups by winning three matches only.
Thus, the luck factor did not favor Maharashtra, and even Ruturaj Gaikwad felt the same. He expressed his feelings during a recent interview with the Times of India after Maharashtra’s early elimination from the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021.
In some other groups, teams who have lost two games out of five have also made it to the next stage: Ruturaj Gaikwad
Here’s what Ruturaj Gaikwad had to say:
“I think it (not qualifying) was harsh on us. We won four out of five games. In some other groups, teams who have lost two games out of five (Himachal, Vidarbha, TN, Karnataka) have also made it to the next stage.”
Ruturaj Gaikwad was the top-scorer in the league round. He scored 603 runs from five matches. No other batter scored even 400 runs.
