‘Still long way to go’: Ruturaj Gaikwad reveals what he learnt from 5-month layoff | Cricket News

NEW DELHI: Ruturaj Gaikwad on Thursday mirrored on how he used his close to five-month injury-enforced layoff to work on his red-ball sport, although the India batter admitted he nonetheless has “a long way to go” within the conventional format regardless of beginning the season strongly.Gaikwad injured his elbow in early April throughout an IPL 2025 match towards Rajasthan Royals, chopping quick his stint as Chennai Super Kings skipper. The setback additionally dominated him out of the India A sequence towards the England Lions earlier than the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. He later withdrew from a County contract with Yorkshire due to private causes.Despite the frustration, Gaikwad discovered positives within the enforced break.“I had good time to prepare, especially after not being part of the India A series. And then after that coming back, I decided to work on my red ball game, give it some amount of time and obviously still working on it, still long way to go,” he mentioned after scoring 184 for West Zone on the opening day of the Duleep Trophy semifinal towards Central Zone.The effort adopted his century towards Himachal Pradesh within the Buchi Babu invitational match, marking his second successive hundred.On returning after the break, Gaikwad admitted it wasn’t simple.“Not really. Actually, it was just about following the process. The red ball game actually needs a lot of patience, a lot of process to be followed and it was just about getting into that rhythm. And you know, I did it for almost one, one and a half months and obviously Buchi Babu as well and then it happened here as well,” he mentioned.He added that point away from cricket gave him psychological calmness and the possibility to spend high quality time with household.“I mean, nobody would want to have a family time being injured. It was a very fluke injury and nothing anyone can do about it. So, I just enjoyed my time at home and then obviously trying to get into the rhythm, get into the game routines, you know, do the small things and really loved the process throughout.”The 28-year-old has also adapted to batting at No. 4, a role he often plays for Maharashtra and sometimes for CSK.“I won’t say it is 2.0 because, you know, I think in white ball, I always opened but in red ball, there was only one spot available in Maharashtra when I joined the team. So, I think that was the only spot available. Whenever, you know, there were two proper openers playing, I always used to play at three. So, definitely, there were no real spots for me but now obviously, I feel I am really comfortable there,” he said.His composure was evident in the semifinal when, walking in at 10 for two, he steadied West Zone with a big hundred.“I thought it was a good challenge to be part of because obviously, three really good (Central Zone) fast bowlers, you know, with great skill set and to be able to face them, to be able to score runs against them would be a great challenge. That is what I thought and obviously, I stick to it and am really happy that it came off,” he added.Gaikwad also praised Tanush Kotian, with whom he shared a 148-run stand for the sixth wicket.“He always bats really well. He has the knack of scoring runs. He has proper Mumbai brain, really street smart and knows when to score runs, knows when to soak up the pressure. So, you know, he is always done in front of me and even today, he batted really well,” he said.Recently, MS Dhoni said Gaikwad’s return would strengthen CSK’s batting in IPL 2026, a remark Gaikwad welcomed.“From him, the support was always there. There was nothing to be shy about and obviously, you know, me missing that tournament and then later on having some replacements (Ayush Mhatre, Shaikh Rasheed etc). It really strengthened the squad (in IPL 2025) and then obviously, me joining back again would really strengthen it again. So, I feel that is what he said,” Gaikwad explained.