Lara praises Ruturaj Gaikwad's maiden ton innings

Former West Indies great Brian Lara praised Chennai Super Kings opener Ruturaj Gaikwad who scored his first IPL ton on Saturday vs Rajasthan Royals despite finishing on the losing side.

Gaikwad scored 101 runs off 60 balls that took Chennai Super Kings to 189/4 that looked difficult at one stage. However, Rajasthan Royals' Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shivam Dube stole the show with their top class striking. Dube was unbeaten at 64 in the chase of 190 that Rajasthan finished with 15 balls to spare.

"Yeah, he could have been 135 if he had got more strike in the end overs. But it was a complete show of batsmanship. That's what I like about him, seeing how he put that innings together, how he surged in the second half of the innings. He was just tremendous to watch," Lara said on Star Sports.

Lara mentioned that Gaikwad's impressive knock was full of textbook cricketing shots. "He shows that you can play good cricket shots and still score big runs. And that's what I am proud of as a batsman. It was just remarkable and unbelievable. I will put him now in the KL Rahul category," added Lara.

CSK have already qualified for the playoffs but still there are speculation on the top two finish.