Ruturaj Gaikwad drops even after scoring a century, Gambhir-Agarkar are being criticized; Ashwin also raised questions

In the second ODI played against South Africa in Raipur, Ruturaj Gaikwad scored 105 runs, he did not bat in the third match of the series. Gaikwad played a brilliant innings of 124 runs against Uttarakhand in the Vijay Hazare Trophy on December 31, despite being dropped from the ODI team against New Zealand.

What did Ravichandran Ashwin write?

No matter how you feel.

Get up, dress up, pad up, show up and never give up.

It can be hard to miss but such is the competition for places in the Indian team. #RuturajGaikwad pic.twitter.com/A1taarpMdF

— Ashwin 🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) January 3, 2026

Criticism on social media

BCCI at it again! Dropping Ruturaj Gaikwad after his recent ODI century and stellar domestic form, just to accommodate returning players.

Consistency? Merit? What's that? 🤦‍ ♂️

#BCCI #IndianCricket #RuturajGaikwad pic.twitter.com/OfUGhMy9Vf

— Shreya (@shreyagenai) January 3, 2026

New Zealand

Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer (vice-captain), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal.