Ahmedabad, Feb 12: Shubman Gill led the way with a fluent 112 while Virat Kohli (52) and Shreyas Iyer (78) also cashed in on ideal conditions in their last outing before the Champions Trophy, helping India set a 357-run target for England in the third and final ODI here on Wednesday.
Gill anchored India’s innings en route to his seventh ODI ton — 112 off 104 balls (14x4s, 3x6s) which also took his average past 60 in the format — while putting on two century stands with Kohli and Iyer to consolidate for India, who finished at 356 all-out.
The India vice-captain Gill also achieved the unique feat of scoring a century each across the three international formats at the same venue. Gill, meanwhile, has also scored an IPL hundred here at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
Attacking the fast bowlers and spinners alike, Gill’s knock was replete with rich strokes particularly down the ground. The opener displayed immaculate footwork at the crease early on to take the attack to the opposition and remained resolute to score off spin, until he was cleaned up by Adil Rashid (4/64).
On his part, Kohli took his time to find the rhythm and when he did, the batting mainstay looked hitting his strides.
Kohli made the most of a juicy overpitched delivery from Mark Wood which he drove through the covers for his first four, then got on top of the ball from Saqib Mahmood to swat it for another boundary through mid-wicket and punished the England pacer for being wayward as he cut him for his third four.
While his stroke play was compelling in the run-a-ball fifty for his 73rd half-century, there were elements of struggle against England leg-spinner Adil Rashid.
When Kohli was on 38, he survived a leg-before appeal as an attempted flick was missed and the ball had crashed into his pads. The replays showed the ball had pitched just outside the line of leg-stump.
But Rashid continued to have wood over Kohli as soon after he raised his bat for fifty, the England spinner had him caught behind on a loopy delivery which turned away and took an edge before settling in the wicketkeeper’s gloves. This was the fifth time Rashid has dismissed Kohli in ODIs.
Kohli was stranded 37 runs short of becoming only the third batter ever to make 14,000 ODI runs, missing a personal landmark like his teammate Rohit Sharma earlier in the innings. It is expected to be completed during Champions Trophy.
Coming off a terrific century in second ODI, Rohit Sharma (1) could not even get a start as a delivery from Wood which was angled in, straightened enough to take the outside edge and Phil Salt collected a sharp catch.
Iyer only had himself to blame for missing out on a triple-digit score after he was caught behind on a delivery fired down the leg stump by Rashid, one that he needlessly chased and edged.
Hardik Pandya (17) hit a couple of sixes before perishing off Rashid and KL Rahul also stroked his way to a quick 29-ball 40 towards the end. (PTI)
