Shubman Gill continued his love affair with the Edgbaston cricket ground as the Indian captain’s graceful 80 lay the foundation for a walk-in-the park six-wicket victory over England in the first ODI here on Tuesday.
India, now, have taken a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Axar Patel, much panned for his recent low returns in T20Is, played the perfect support cast with a superb all-round show of 4/62 and an unbeaten 57 off 52 balls in what could have otherwise been a tricky chase. Chasing a perfectly gettable target of 259, the Indian skipper mixed poise and style in equal measure before suffering from cramps, but Washington Sundar (52 no off 63 balls) and Axar successfully completed the chase in 45.2 overs with a 102-run unbroken stand after being reduced to 160 for 4. Gill was in fine nick despite being bothered by a dodgy hamstring and calf muscle cramps which forced him to retire when the 10th ODI century seemed to be there for the taking.
This was India’s first win in the ongoing tour of the United Kingdom. Gill, who hit 11 fours and a six in his 75-ball knock got a lot of support from his in-form deputy Shreyas Iyer (35) during their 101-run stand for the third wicket. Just like Adelaide Oval had been a happy hunting ground for Virat Kohli across formats, the same could be said about Gill and Edgbaston. During the Test series last year, Gill scored 269 and 161 in Indian victory here. And now in the 50-over format, he once again showed his real class even as he was done in first by calf muscle cramps and then hamstring became an issue.
Brief scores:
England: 258 all out in 47.5 overs (Liam Dawson 68, Joe Root 76 not out; Axar Patel 4/62, Prasidh Krishna 2/50) lost to India: 262/4 in 45.2 overs (Shubman Gill 80 retired hurt, Axar Patel 57 not out, Washington Sundar 52 not out; Josh Tongue 1/50) by 6 wickets