A setback for India C, captain Ruturaj Gaikwad retired hurt after facing just two balls in their Duleep Trophy 2024 match against India B at the Rural Development Trust Stadium B in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh on Thursday. Gaikwad, who managed to hit a four on the first ball he faced, twisted his ankle on the next delivery and was forced to leave the field. India B won the toss and opted to bowl first, putting India C on the back foot early. Despite the early blow of losing their captain, India C managed to recover with a solid partnership between Sai Sudharsan and Rajat Patidar.

However, Gaikwad, who is the Chennai Super Kings captain, came on to bat later on.

Sudharsan scored 43 runs off 75 balls, while Patidar contributed 40 runs from 67 balls. The duo shared a crucial 92-run stand for the second wicket, facing 140 balls in total.

After their promising partnership, both batters were dismissed in quick succession, leaving Ishan Kishan and Baba Indrajith to rebuild the innings.

Reports said that Gaikwad twisted his ankle while running after facing a delivery from pacer Mukesh Kumar. Although he had to retire hurt, the injury is not considered serious, and he is expected to bat in the second innings. Gaikwad has had a challenging period in his red-ball cricket career recently.

The 27-year-old was named in India’s Test squad for the two-match series against South Africa last December but was ruled out due to a finger injury. In his first-class career, Gaikwad has played 30 games, amassing 2,092 runs with six centuries and ten fifties.

His first-class, List A, and T20 debuts came during the 2016-17 season for Maharashtra. Captain of India B Abhimanyu Easwaran won the toss and elected to bowl first.

India C’s: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Sai Sudharsan, Rajat Patidar, Ishan Kishan, Baba Indrajith, Abhishek Porel (Wk), Anshul Kamboj, Mayank Markande, Manav Suthar, Vyshak Vijay Kumar, and Sandeep Warrier.

India B: Abhimanyu Easwaran, Narayan Jagadeesan (Wk), Musheer Khan, Sarfaraz Khan, Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Sai Kishore, Navdeep Saini, Rahul Chahar, and Mukesh Kumar.

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