'Proper leader mentality'- Twitter hails Ruturaj Gaikwad for his 'selfless' gesture after hitting 7 sixes in one over

Ruturaj Gaikwad (Image Source: Twitter)

Maharashtra batter Ruturaj Gaikwad is going through a rich vein of form at the Vijay Hazare Trophy. On Monday, the right-hand batter smashed the record for the most number of sixes in a List A cricket match with 7 sixes. The 25-year-old also brought out a sensational double century against Uttar Pradesh playing an innings of 220* off just 159 balls.

On his way to his double century, Gaikwad also hit 10 fours and 16 sixes, the joint most for a List-A player. On the back of Gaikwad’s performance, Maharashtra were able to win by 58 runs over Uttar Pradesh in their crucial Vijay Hazare match.

Maharashtra scored 330/5 in the first innings and bowled out the Uttar Pradesh team for 272 runs, winning the game by a comfortable margin. Although Gaikwad had already won over the cricketing fraternity with his record-breaking 7 sixes earlier, he did one better when he showed great leadership quality in the post-match event.

Here's the picture from the post-match: 

Ruturaj Gaikwad called up Rajvardhan Hangargekar to share the man of the match award for his match winning spell. Man's already showing signs to take up the mantle in yellow. pic.twitter.com/8uUo4iQLS4

— Heisenberg ☢ (@internetumpire) November 28, 2022

The incident took place when Gaikwad was about to be awarded the Player of the Match for his double century. At the post-match event, the Chennai franchise batter invited his teammate Rajvardhan Hangargekar to share the man of the match award with him.

Hangargekar had taken five wickets against Uttar Pradesh and was essential in restricting the UP team to 272 runs. The Pune-born batter believed that Hangargekar had a significant amount of contribution to be adjudged the Player of the Match hence he called him up to receive the award.

This gesture by Ruturaj Gaikwad has won over a lot of cricket fans who have lauded the player for showing class. Many also claim him to be an ideal candidate for the Chennai franchise’s captaincy after MS Dhoni’s retirement.

The right-hand batter was retained by Chennai ahead of the Indian T20 League mini-auction and would be an integral part of the team for the upcoming season.