Ruturaj Gaikwad underlines his red-ball credentials

The moment Ruturaj Gaikwad got out playing a nothing shot - flashing outside the off-stump to an innocuous delivery from off-break bowler Joe Walker - he knew he had missed out on a big one after two forgettable outings in as many matches against the touring New Zealand A.

It was ironic for, by his own admission at the end of the day, the visiting spinners "were not up to the mark" compared to Indian spinners. Till that moment of indiscretion, the Maharashtra batsman looked in complete control of the proceedings.

He stood tall in the crease and looked easy on the eye with his flowing drives and delicate cuts behind the point. It was around his well-constructed 108 (127b, 12x4, 2x6) and his 132-run association with Upendra Yadav (76, 134b, 9x4, 2x6) that India A managed to raise 293 all out in 86.4 overs on the opening day of the third and final four-day match here at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday.

It was a beautiful day for cricket. As rain stayed away mercifully and the sun shone the brightest in a long while, Ruturaj produced an equally resplendent innings, the one which took a long time coming. Before the ongoing three-match series against Kiwis, the 25-year-old batsman's last red-ball appearance was in a Ranji Trophy match against Uttarakhand in February 2020.

In the intervening 31 months, Ruturaj has been playing only white-ball cricket and most of them being T20s. His innings of 0 and 25 in the first two matches showed he was still in T20 mode, not so much in terms of technique but in the way he approached the game mentally.

"To be honest, there wasn’t much time to make certain changes in technique or in the routine stuff," said Ruturaj later when asked about the changes he had to make after endless white-ball cricket.

"If you can, and if it's possible to have a shift mentally, that works I felt. I think I wasn’t up to the mark mentally and technique-wise but then I changed nothing. It's just that I was a little bit more focused. It was knowing about what I have to do. After playing T20 cricket for so long, you need to change a lot according to the game’s demands.

"As of now the Indian team is playing carefree cricket where you have to take lots of risks and just play aggressively. I think it is a massive difference playing days cricket after so long but this is a challenge and I feel this will be a challenge in the future when we’ll have days, one-dayers and T20s and I’ll have to be ready for that and work on my mindset," he explained.

Ruturaj agreed the shift in mentality from white-ball to red-ball cricket was easier said than done. Where in T20, with flatter pitches, defensive fields and shorter boundaries, it is all about expressing oneself, it's exactly the opposite in the longer pitches aren't shirt-fronts even if they aren't exactly spicy, fields are attacking and bowlers' aren't scared to leak runs in exchange of wickets.

"To put it in words, it's like you are used to that kind of bat-flow where your bat flows naturally to all the shots you want to play in T20 cricket," he began. "In T20 cricket, you have to be ready for each and every ball and have three particular options in your mind for each ball. Whether it is for bouncer or hitting inside out or hitting for a six.

Then all of a sudden to come to red ball cricket where you don’t really have to look for runs, you have to focus on staying on the wicket. In T20 and one-day cricket, it is more about letting your instincts flow. The first thing you have to do here, shifting from white to red (ball) is stopping that instinct and trying to just focus on your breath, play ball by ball, session by session and try to play out the day. You have to apply your basics like playing under your head, having your shoulder aligned, if the ball is really outside of your right eye then leaving it alone. These basics come into the game for red ball."

For someone who has been earmarked as a future Test opener by none other than Indian team head coach Rahul Dravid, Ruturaj did no harm to his cause but he could have made it even bigger.

"I had a very good chance to make a big one," admitted Ruturaj. "Not only for myself but I felt that me staying at the wicket today would’ve been very crucial for us as a team. The wicket is very helpful for the bowlers – be it pacers or spinners. We as a team felt that putting up a big score batting first would be very beneficial and crucial. At a stage when we were looking for that unfortunately myself and Upendra (Yadav) got out. Big one (disappointment) for me personally and even for the team as I feel we’re 50-60 runs short for sure."

Brief scores: INDIA A: 293 all out in 86.4 overs (Abhimanyu Easwaran 38, Ruturaj Gaikwad 108, Rajat Patidar 30, Upendra Yadav 76; Jacob Duffy 2-56, Matthew Fisher 4-52) vs New Zealand A.