Delhi: Indian team's star batsman Ruturaj Gaikwad revealed in a video shared by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that he is currently focusing on his game and is not thinking about replacing the legendary Virat Kohli at number 3 for the team. After the Indian team won the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 title on June 29, Kohli announced his retirement from T20 International cricket along with captain Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja. According to many cricket experts, Ruturaj is one of the many players who are being seen as a potential replacement for Kohli in the team.

With players like Kohli, Rohit and Jadeja bidding adieu to T20Is, there is speculation on who will replace them in the future. However, in the video, Ruturaj is not ready to pay heed to any comparison with Virat Kohli.

27-year-old Rituraj said, “This is a big topic and I think it is not right to think about it. It is very difficult and very difficult to compare with him (Kohli) or to replace him.”

Apart from this, Rituraj was made the captain of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, where he replaced veteran wicketkeeper-batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Gaikwad further said, “As I said in the IPL also, it is difficult to fill the place of Mahi Bhai (MS Dhoni). You want to start your career, you want to start the way you want, you want to play your own game, so this is the priority right now.”

Rituraj's winning innings against Zimbabwe

It is worth noting that after failing to score big in the first match of the five-match T20 International series against Zimbabwe, Ruturaj scored an unbeaten 77* off 46 balls in the second T20I and played an important role in the team's victory.