In the absence of star batter Virat Kohli, vice-captain Shubman Gill led India to four-wicket win over England in the 1st ODI in Nagpur on Thursday. Chasing just 249 for victory, Gill led the pack with a composed 83 off 96 balls as India achieved their target with 11.2 overs to spare. He put on stands of 94 and 108 runs with Shreyas Iyer (59) and Axar Patel (52) after openers Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal fell for cheap in chase.
Gill has been receiving praise from all corners for his knock, including former India batter Suresh Raina, who teased the youngster with a “Valentine’s Day” related query.
“Maine kaha Valentine’s Day to 14th ko hai, tune aaj fir dil jeet liya (Valentine’s Day is on 14 February, but you already won hearts today),” Raina asked Gill on-air.
Gill, who was blushing on live television, replied, saying: “Thank you”.
— Sahil (@Sahilllxcricket) February 6, 2025
Gill’s was denied his century by England pacer Saqib Mahmood, who got him caught at mid-on, following a mistimed pull. Mahmood and spinner Adil Rashid took two wickets each to give England some late positives in an otherwise comfortable chase.
“Pretty happy because we knew we were coming after a long time to this format. We wanted to quickly regroup and understand what is to be done,” Rohit said after the match.
“Nothing specific, overall as a team I want to make sure we keep on doing the right things. Try and tick every boxes there is to be ticked in bowling and batting,” he added.
Reflecting on the defeat, England captain Jos Buttler said: “I think Salt and Duckett came out and played brilliantly in that powerplay, put the opposition under a lot of pressure and then an unfortunate run-out changed the momentum and we lost four wickets quite quickly, which set us back.”
“We were probably another 40 or 50 runs (short) on that total — with the way the wicket was turning at the end, we would have been in a good position to try to win the game,” he added.
The second ODI will be played in Cuttack on Sunday, with Kohli likely to be back after missing out in Jaipur due to a sore knee.
India and England are both warming up for the upcoming Champions Trophy, scheduled to be played from February 19th in Pakistan and the UAE (only India matches).
(With AFP Inputs)
Topics mentioned in this article
Add comment