India beat New Zealand in the first one-day international of the three-match series in Hyderabad on Wednesday. Shubman Gill’s coming of age double hundred helped put an end to the debate regarding who would open the batting for India. India then went on to pull off a nail-biting 12-run victory over New Zealand despite Michael Bracewell’s blitzkrieg.
Gill’s extraordinary performance of 208 runs off 149 balls and his continuous batting throughout India’s innings helped the team reach 349 for eight.
It was very much a one-man show, as evidenced by the fact that the team’s skipper, Rohit Sharma, had the second greatest score of the innings with 34 runs off of 38 balls.
Michael Bracewell scored 140 runs off 78 balls to pull his team back into the game after they had been eliminated and were down and out at 131 for six while chasing a large target. His century brought New Zealand back into the game from nowhere.
To put India on edge, he put together the greatest seventh wicket stand for New Zealand in one-day internationals by scoring 162 runs off 102 balls with fellow left-hander Mitchell Santer (57 runs off 45).
New Zealand’s innings came to a conclusion at 337, and bowler Mohammed Siraj (4/46), who was playing in front of his home fans, made the effort that ended up winning the match.
After India made the decision to bat first, the 23-year-old Gill took control of the situation and set a new record by being the youngest player in One-Day International history to hit a 200.
By doing so, he surpassed the mark held by Ishan Kishan, who was controversially removed from the Sri Lanka One-Day International squad after hitting a double century in Bangladesh the previous month.
Gill, who has been hailed as the next big thing in Indian cricket ever since he demonstrated his talent at the 2018 U-19 World Cup, hit 19 fours and nine sixes during his innings, with six of his sixes coming after he had already reached the milestone of 150 runs. In addition, the double century was his second score in a row to reach the three-digit mark.
After India made the decision to bat first, there was a close battle going on between the opening batsmen and the pace bowlers from New Zealand. In the first 10 overs, the hosts scored 52 runs without suffering any losses.
Once more, Rohit guaranteed a score in the hundreds, but he was only trying to flatter you.
ockie Ferguson was creating considerable pace as usual from one end, but after having some good fortune with a mistimed pull in the fourth over, Gill delivered a neat cover drive to prevent him from getting a maiden in the over that immediately followed.
When a wicket falls, the Indian crowd typically falls silent; however, when Rohit was run out, the crowd greeted superstar Virat Kohli with a thunderous cheer.
After scoring three hundred runs in each of his previous four innings, Kohli started the game with a crunching cover drive but was eventually dismissed by a stunning delivery from the left-arm spinner Santner.
After not playing against Sri Lanka, Kishan was accommodated in the middle of the order, but he did not stay long as he edged an angled delivery to wicketkeeper Tom Latham.
Gill reached his fifty with a slog sweep of off-spinner Bracewell that went the distance. This was at the other end of the field.
The brilliant opener was also given a life on 45 when Latham botched a straightforward stumping attempt off Bracewell. Gill had anticipated that the ball would turn, so this gave Gill a second chance.
Gill did not turn around after that point, thus he did not benefit from any additional strokes of luck. He then proceeded to fire his trademark pull shots off of the pacers while while using his feet against the spinners.