Rituraj Gaikwad, who led the Indian team to a historic gold medal at the Asian Games, is now playing in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 cricket tournament. He represented Maharashtra against Bengal.
Bengal batted first and scored 156 for 6. Captain Sudeep Gharmi made 44 runs, while Ranjot Kharia scored an unbeaten 49. Arshin Kulkarni of Maharashtra took two wickets, and PC Dadhe, Vicky Otswal, AN Kazi, and PH Solanki took one each.
While chasing the target, Rituraj Gaikwad led the charge. Kulkarni was dismissed for 13 runs, and Captain Kedar Jadhav supported Rituraj. Rituraj played a remarkable innings, scoring 82 runs off 40 balls with 9 fours and 5 sixes. His performance helped Maharashtra reach 119 for 2 in 10.3 overs, nearing victory.
In another match, Sourav Chauhan of Gujarat achieved the fastest Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 fifty by scoring 61 runs in 18 balls, with 5 fours and 6 sixes. This broke the previous record set by Abhay Negi of Meghalaya in 2019, making it the quickest fifty in the tournament. Arunachal Pradesh successfully chased down the target of 127 runs.