India vs SA: Gaikwad trolled on social media for disrespecting groundstaff
Team India’s opener Ruturaj Gaikwad ended the forgettable T20 series against South Africa. The Chennai Super Kings and Maharashtra opener scored just 96 runs in five matches with a strike-rate of 131.5 with a top score of 57 and an average of 19.2. In the rain-hit fifth T20, TV cameras caught Gaikwad ‘attitude’ towards an enthusiastic ground-staff in Bengaluru, who was asking for a selfie with the opener.
The fifth T20 was eventually called off due to rain and the T20 series was shared 2–2 between India and South Africa. Gaikwad found it extremely difficult to get in the middle and died when he tried to hit Lungi Ngidi directly over his head. The ball went straight into the air and Gaikwad was caught by Dwayne Pretorius.
A video surfaced just after Gaikwad was dismissed, in which the opener is seen abusing the groundsman in the dugout.
Here’s a look at Ruturaj Gaikwad’s viral video and reactions on social media…
Very bad and insulting gesture by Ruturaj Gaikwad. Sad to see these groundsmen being treated like pic.twitter.com/Qj6YoXIPUa – Akshat (@ReignOfVirat) June 19, 2022
Ruturaj should be thrown out of Team India, what was that attitude
— ARYAN_OP (@ARYAN__OP) June 19, 2022
Worst behavior Ruturaj Gaikwad. They are unsung heroes and it is very disgraceful to treat them like this. https://t.co/rxaNZoYuWe — FOXER s (@FOXER_Offl) June 19, 2022
Meanwhile, in the absence of first-choice pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar did a splendid job of spearheading India’s pace attack in the series against South Africa. Bhuvneshwar kept things tight in the power-plays, proving that he is still a force to be reckoned with in the shortest format of the game.
Bhuvneshwar entered the tournament for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2022 after taking 12 wickets in 14 matches at an economy rate of 7.34. In addition, he was troubled by his back, hamstring and thigh injuries. But now it looks like Bhuvneshwar is returning to his best bowling.
“Really proud (on receiving the Player of the Series award). It doesn’t matter whether you are a bowler or a batsman. But when you get man of the series it is always a proud moment and as a bowler in T20 it is always better. The body feels good, but I don’t want to talk about it too much. I always focus on being strong, be it my bowling or my fitness,” Bhuvneshwar said after the match.
(with agency input)