Gill leads the way with a sublime century as India routs England in the third ODI

Shubman Gill hammered his seventh century as India thrashed England in the third and final ODI in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: VIJAY SONEJI

The Indian team celebrates the series win.
| Photo Credit:
VIJAY SONEJI

Perception matters. It’s not just about winning matches but also how you win them. On Wednesday at the Narendra Modi Stadium, India showed, yet again, how this was done with a masterful 142-run thrashing of England in the third and final ODI.

If a settled batting unit led by the sublime Shubman Gill (112, 102b, 14×4, 3×6) put on a mammoth 356, a rejigged bowling line-up – Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav and Arshdeep Singh coming in for Varun Chakaravarthy (sore calf), Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami (both rested) – dismissed England for a paltry 214 to complete a 3-0 whitewash ahead of the Champions Trophy.

For a third straight time this series, England was off to a racy start with Ben Duckett (34, 22b, 8×4) and Phil Salt (23, 21b, 4×4) scoring at 10 runs an over in the first six. But Arshdeep excised both batters in successive overs with excellent slower deliveries.

Tom Banton (38, 41b, 4×4, 2×6) and Joe Root (24, 29b, 2×4) resisted, with the former playing a couple of audacious reverse sweeps. But Kuldeep had Banton edge behind a flighted wrong’un before Axar Patel forced Root to chop one on. When frontline pacer Harshit Rana returned to send back Jos Buttler and Harry Brook, it was all over.

After being put into bat, India rode on Gill’s seventh ODI ton. It appeared like he knew the Modi Stadium like the back of his hand, for he has now scored hundreds in all three formats here. And this reflected in the way the 25-year-old explored every area of the ground, driving, flicking, jabbing and even late-cutting his way through.

Initially, Gill routinely stepped out to negate the appreciable seam movement. And once he settled, he blossomed. Speedster Gus Atkinson was straight-driven and lofted over his head while spinners Liam Livingstone and Adil Rashid were whipped, steered and milked all over the ground. Such was Gill’s onslaught that 77 of the 112 runs he scored came off the trio.

If a sweetly driven boundary to the extra-cover fence off Rashid brought Gill his fifty, the hundred was had with a majestic flick to the mid-wicket fence off Mark Wood. Virat Kohli (52, 55b, 7×4, 1×6) and Shreyas Iyer (78, 64b, 8×4, 2×6) supported their vice-captain well, combining for 116 second-wicket runs and 104 for the third respectively.

Kohli was not at his imperious best but he is at a stage where he will take runs whichever way they come. But he did execute a couple of pleasing drives and a trademark whip in the mid-wicket region. Shreyas’ best strokes were the pick-up shots he hit behind square on the leg-side.

Rashid was England’s most threatening bowler (4/64), but he was far from steady, zoning in and out. He bowled magic deliveries to have Kohli caught-behind and Hardik Pandya bowled but also landed rank bad half-volleys and short balls that were deservedly flogged.

The visitors did pull things back in the final 15 overs by limiting India to 356 after the latter was 226 for two in the 35th over. But with another below-par batting effort, they shot themselves in the foot.