GAIKWAD FAILS TO MAKE IT COUNT

Opener Will Find It Difficult To Get Into The Team When Regulars Like Rohit, Rahul Return

- Manuja Veerappa

Bengaluru: In the first six deliveries Ruturaj Gaikwad faced at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Sunday night, he managed two runs. Nudging, poking and missing, he struggled to find rhythm before a short ball from Kagiso Rabada was pulled over mid-wicket boundary. But the spark was doused three deliveries later, with a slow off-cutter from pacer Lungi Ngidi.

The 25-year-old played the shot early and handed Dwaine Pretorius a sitter at midwicket. It wasn't the first time the batsman from Maharashtra faltered in the five-match T20 series against South Africa. Barring the 57 in Visakhapatnam, Gaikwad doesn't have much to show in his T20 international career, which is eight matches old.