Ruturaj Gaikwad Wants To Pick Dravid's Brain In Sri Lanka

Opening batsman Ruturaj Gaikwad, who was a surprise selection in the 20-member India squad for the tour of Sri Lanka, has been forced to follow 'early to bed-early to rise' routine due to lockdown in Pune, his hometown, over the last month.

"In Pune, there has been a lockdown since May, and things have been open only from 7-11 am. So I wanted to ensure I did not spend that time sleeping," Gaikwad said.

"I wanted to utilise more of that time for my fitness work and gym work. I did not want myself to be caught off-guard and be in a situation where I was picked but was not conditioned enough," the right-handed batsman told espncricinco.com.

Gaikwad said he was not aware of the news of his selection initially as he was not following it. He was in his bed and had switched off mobile data to ensure repeated alerts do not disturb him.

However, once he started receiving repeated calls, he picked up the phone and learned the news of his selection.

"When I go to sleep, I generally switch off mobile data. I know if it is an emergency, someone will generally call twice. When my phones started ringing continuously, I was not first sure what it was. Then two journalists informed me of my selection," said Gaikwad.

"I had to wake my parents up to tell them. They were quite deep in sleep, and were not fully able to process what I was telling them at first. But this morning they woke up really happy and made some pedas (sweets) at home, and I was happy to make an exception and have them to celebrate the happy news."

Gaikwad, who endured an ordinary run in Vijay Hazare One-dayers and Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s but racked up five half-centuries in 13 matches across Indian Premier League's 2020 and 2021 editions, says he is not sure if he will get a chance to play in Sri Lanka. But he said he wants to use this opportunity to learn.

"I was not thinking much about my selection. Even now, I am not thinking on the lines of 'will I play'. I am looking forward to learning the knack of adaptability, something that will be very important going forward.

"Dhawan and a few of the other seniors have played a lot of international cricket, so I would like to learn from them by chatting to them about how they assess conditions, how they have adapted, how they have used their experience and learnt from their failures.

"I am also really excited to train and spend a month under Rahul Dravid, who was our India A coach when I was part of the team two years ago. He was with us on three tours, and we started to get familiar with each other. So when he was appointed the National Cricket Academy chief, I was personally disappointed at not being able to pick his brains anymore. But now, getting a chance to do that will be very useful for me," added Gaikwad.