NEW DELHI: Ruturaj Gaikwad on Thursday reflected on how he used his near five-month injury-enforced layoff to work on his red-ball game, though the India batter admitted he still has “a long way to go” in the traditional format despite starting the season strongly.Gaikwad injured his elbow in early April during an IPL 2025 match against Rajasthan Royals, cutting short his stint as Chennai Super Kings skipper. The setback also ruled him out of the India A series against the England Lions before the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. He later withdrew from a County contract with Yorkshire due to personal reasons.Despite the disappointment, Gaikwad found positives in 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 said after scoring 184 for West Zone on the opening day of the Duleep Trophy semifinal against Central Zone.The effort followed his century against Himachal Pradesh in the Buchi Babu invitational tournament, marking his second successive hundred.On returning after the break, Gaikwad admitted it wasn’t easy.“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 said.He added that time away from cricket gave him mental calmness and the chance to spend quality time with family.“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.
