INDIA VS ENGLAND, 3RD ODI, NARENDRA MODI STADIUM, AHMEDABAD : Shubman Gills Powerpack Century Excelled India To Historic ODI Series Victory 3-0 Against England .
Shubman Gill shines with bat as India defeated England by 142 runs in the third ODI to complete a series victory over Three Lions at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. It is a huge boost for the Rohit Sharma-led side just before the Champions Trophy which begins from February 19. Reverting to the third ODI, Gill’s century guided India to 356 all out in 50 overs after England captain Jos Buttler elected to bowl first after winning the toss. Gill made 112 runs in 102 balls, hitting 14 fours and 3 sixes. Shreyas Iyer (78), Virat Kohli (52) and KL Rahul (40) also made vital contributions. Adil Rashid, too, shone for England, coming away with 4 for 64. Mark Wood was also unimpressive with 2 for 45 but the rest of visiting bowlers cut a sorry figure. England began the chase well but after the initial opening, wickets fell regularly and they couldn’t recover. Dinesh Karthik and Shreyas Iyer scored 44 and 54 runs respectively as Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel took two wickets each. Shubman Gills Powerpack Century Excelled India To Historic ODI Series Victory 3-0 Against England .
TOSS-
England win the toss and choose to bowl
TEAMS LINE UP-
India Squad:
Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh
England Squad:
Philip Salt (wk), Ben Duckett, Tom Banton, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (c), Liam Livingstone, Gus Atkinson, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Saqib Mahmood
INDIA-
Earlier, India displayed their batting prowess to cross the 350-run mark after being asked to bat first. Rohit Sharma failed to recreate the magic he had in Cuttack and fell for a very early dismissal but Gill got himself going again. Virat Kohli, also under a little pressure, rediscovered some much-needed rhythm, too. India had 52/1 in the first powerplay and there was little sign of them letting up as the field began to spread. Both batters were ruthless against Root, especially Kohli who stroked him for four fours in two overs and Gill forced Atkinson out of the attack with a four and a six.
The pair then hit sixes off Livingstone before reaching fifties. It was against the course of play the Adil Rashid got Kohli to edge the bowling, but all in all, England’s attempts at curbing the runs appeared to be a lost cause. Shreyas Iyer hit a promising note early in his innings once more, and in a spate of boundaries, rushed to 40 off just 30 at one stage. While Gill was joyously batting at the other end, he raised another century at his favourite venue, but Rashid provided England with a much-needed breakthrough as he removed the opener just when the batter was looking to explode.
Adil had a very good game as he also sent back a well-set Shreyas for 78 before accounting for Hardik over the final ball of his spell. India still would have fancied their chances of crossing the 375-mark given the set-up with Hardik’s wicket forced a retreat of sorts, which was quickly followed up by Axar’s dismissal. KL Rahul, after batting at No.5 this time, added timely boundaries to score 40 on just 29 balls at No.5 before falling lbw to a brilliant yorker from Saqib Mahmood. That helped England place the squeeze on, restricting them to just 22 runs in the last three overs, which made no difference in the end .
ENGLAND-
Chasing a mammoth target of 357, England exploded, not surprisingly. Ben Duckett especially was harsh on India’s new ball bowlers, finding the fence four times against Harshit Rana before finding it four times in a row against Arshdeep Singh. Following this barrage England skittled to 60/0 in six overs, positioning themselves well for the lofty chase. But Duckett fell then as he mis-timed a complete knuckleball from Arshdeep to fall for 34.
Tom Banton, who got the opportunity at No.3, was off to a flier with a switch-hit six off Washington Sundar but another slower one from Arshdeep at the other end had Phil Salt in his job. England had 84 runs after the first nine overs, but the two wickets did make a dent. Joe Root and Banton kicked up for a short but the Batting exhibits yet again where Ben Banton used the switch hit yet again for another six, this time off Axar Patel. But Kuldeep Yadav sent Banton back with a googly, and Root was castled by Axar soon after.
If that was not bad enough, Rana returned to claim the big wicket Buttler, who despite looking good, played a loose shot and chopped one onto his stumps and effectively made it all one-way in the end. Harry Brook fell victim to rinse and repeat as he faced the same fate at the hands of the same bowler in his following over. Costly on the night, Washington did get his name on the scorecard by having Liam Livingstone stumped while Hardik Pandya’s lower order contribution included the addition of a couple of scalps to make sure there was at least one for each of the Indian bowlers. Had it not been for a couple of lusty blows from Gus Atkinson, England wouldn’t have crossed even 200.
Brief scores:
India 356 in 50 overs (Shubman Gill 112, Shreyas Iyer 78; Adil Rashid 4/64, Mark Wood 2/45) beat England 214 in 34.2 overs (Gus Atkinson 38; Axar Patel 2/22, Harshit Rana 2/31) by 142 runs.