Ruturaj is an outstanding talent, we rate him so highly: Stephen Fleming

Ruturaj Gaikwad set the stage alight in the 2023 IPL opener, scoring a scintillating 50-ball 92 against Gujarat Titans. After the match, Super Kings’ head coach Stephen Fleming said that the right-hander is an outstanding talent.

“Ruturaj played a great hand. We just did not quite capitalize. They bowled well from the 12th to the 16th over and we could not get that final push. But still, 180 was a good score. We were looking at what tempo to play. All in all, I loved the positivity and the aggression, and on any other day we would have got to 200,” said Fleming in the post-match press conference.

“He (Ruturaj) is an outstanding talent. We rate him so highly and we think he is an absolute class player. He has got power, he has got touch and only good things will happen to him.”

Rajvardhan Hangargekar was impressive with the ball on debut, registering figures of 4-0-36-3. Speaking about the youngster’s performance, Fleming said: “Yeah, there has been some big improvement. His first-class work has been more consistent. Making your debut in front of 100000 people is a big ask, and he did well.”

“There were some lapses which will come with a young player, but to get some reward, some wickets and getting a game is huge for him. And, we are careful about how we introduce the players, so we make sure that they have the tools to deal with these pressure situations, and he will get better from it. We will continue working with him,” he added.