MUMBAI, Sept. 5 -- In Ruturaj Gaikwad's last four first-class matches, he has scored 86 versus Jammu & Kashmir, 145 versus Mumbai, 89 versus Baroda and 184 versus Central Zone. The first three came in the Ranji Trophy playing for Maharashtra while he smashed 184 in the Duleep Trophy on Thursday playing for West Zone. The issue, however, is the long gap between the matches. His first two knocks were in October, and the 89 against Baroda in January as his season was plagued by injuries. No current Indian cricketer has been as unlucky with injuries as Gaikwad has been, the Chennai Super Kings' captain's 2025 IPL was also cut short by an injury (elbow hairline fracture). Thursday's Duleep Trophy game was his first top-level match since CSK's IPL match on Apr 8, 2025, against Punjab Kings. His only preparation was one match for Maharashtra in the TNCA-organised Buchi Babu tournament last week. This in a nutshell has been Gaikwad's story -- a stop-start career due to injury breaks, since making his debut in 2016 he has played just 38 FC games. It has been frustrating not just for him but also for his coaches and the national selectors. The potential and quality is unmistakable. The 28-year-old underlined it with a superlative 184 on the first day of the Duleep Trophy semi-final played at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground B. A technically sound batter, the Pune-based player is a beautiful timer of the ball. That quality was on show against the bowling attack of Central Zone, consisting of Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar and Harsh Dubey. Walking into bat at 10/2, Gaikwad played with ease to notch his eighth first-class century with the help of 25 fours and one six to power West Zone to 363/6 at the end of Day 1. Known more for his white-ball performances, Gaikwad has been overlooked for Test cricket but this innings serves as a reminder that he has the technique and temperament needed for red-ball success as well. Former India captain and middle-order batter, Dilip Vengsarkar, said the selectors should give weightage to the quality of Gaikwad's batsmanship. "It seems Ruturaj is not in the scheme of things of the Indian think-tank, which I feel is very unfortunate because he is an extremely talented player. As you saw today, 184 in 200 odd balls is excellent. This kind of innings shows a player's potential, this aspect of batsmanship is what should be considered by the selectors, getting 200 in 400 balls doesn't mean much. That too he scored runs when his team was under pressure (10/2). This has to be picked up by the selectors, I hope they are watching," said Vengsarkar in whose Pune Academy Gaikwad honed his skills. For the middle-order batters in domestic cricket there's extra motivation because the No. 3 spot in the India Test side is still up for grabs. Gaikwad's run of scores since the start of 2024-25 Ranji season, have come at No.3 or 4. When asked whether it's Ruturaj 2.0 now with him batting in the middle order, the batter said: "In white ball I always opened but in red ball, there was only one spot available in the Maharashtra team when I joined. "So, there were no real spots there but now obviously, I feel I am really comfortable there (in the middle-order)."...