Former India National Cricket Team pacer and the current Gujarat Titans (GT) head coach, Ashish Nehra, has showered rich praise on Ruturaj Gaikwad and labeled him as a three-format player.

The 26-year-old opening batsman Ruturaj Gaikwad has started to showcase his talent at the international level as well after performing consistently for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Maharashtra in domestic cricket.

Now, the India selectors have started looking at Ruturaj Gaikwad as a three-format player and he has been included in Test, ODI, and T20I squads for the upcoming tour of South Africa.

In the ongoing T20I series against Australia, Ruturaj Gaikwad has delivered an outstanding performance. He got out for a diamond duck in the first match but then followed it up with scores of 58, 123*, and 32 with one more game remaining in the series. Notably, his unbeaten 123-run knock went in vain as the Aussies had won that game riding on the sensational century from Glenn Maxwell.

The kind of elegance that Ruturaj Gaikwad shows is unbelievable – Ashish Nehra

Speaking to Jio Cinema, Nehra said that Gaikwad brings solidity to the table in T20 cricket.

“Everybody knows what kind of a player he is (Ruturaj Gaikwad). When you talk about Yashasvi Jaiswal, his game is completely different compared to Ruturaj Gaikwad’s. You need solidity in the T20 format as well and that’s what Gaikwad brings to the table,” said Nehra.

He added that the “three-format” player Gaikwad’s elegance is unbelievable and outstanding.

“There’s no doubt that Ruturaj Gaikwad is a three-format player for India. The kind of elegance that Ruturaj Gaikwad shows is unbelievable, amazing and it was a great, great, great knock,” Nehra added.

India National Cricket Team under the leadership of Suryakumar Yadav have already clinched the series by winning three of the first four matches and the last game of the series will be played on Sunday. The last match of the series will be hosted by the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.