India, Dec. 3 -- Ruturaj Gaikwad has finally punched a proper hole in the ODI door with a 77-ball hundred in Raipur, but the real question inside the Indian dressing room is simple: Does this actually move Shreyas Iyer out of the frame when he's fit again?

This was Gaikwad's first 50-plus score in ODIs in 803 days, and it has come in his second India appearance, 712 days after playing the last time. Before this South Africa series, he had just 123 runs in seven ODI innings with one fifty and five single-digit scores; even now, his overall ODI line reads 228 runs in 8 innings at an average of 28.50 with 1 hundred and 1 fifty. The gap between perception and numbers was massive - Raipur is the first time his domestic aura has truly shown up...