Young run-machine gun: Shubman Gill sizzles with double ton as India claim nervy win vs Kiwis

Hyderabad, January 18

Shubman Gill settled the debate for the opener’s slot with a coming-of-age double hundred before India survived Michael Bracewell’s blitzkrieg to pull off a nervy 12-run win over New Zealand in the first ODI of the three-match series here today.

Gill oozed class in his special 208 off 149 balls and batted through the innings to power India to 349/8. Skipper Rohit Sharma’s 34 off 38 was the second-best score of the innings, highlighting that it was very much a one-man show.

Chasing the target, New Zealand were down and out at 131/6 before Bracewell (140 off 78) came up with up a stunning century to bring his team back in the game.

He shared 162 off 102 balls with fellow left-hander Mitchell Santner (57 off 45) — New Zealand’s highest seventh-wicket stand in ODIs — to test India.

Playing in front of his home crowd, pacer Mohammed Siraj (4/46) produced a match-winning effort to stop New Zealand, who ended at 337.

After India opted to bat, the 23-year-old Gill owned the stage and became the youngest batter to score a double hundred in the ODI history. By doing so, he broke the record of Ishan Kishan, who was controversially dropped for the Sri Lanka ODIs after smashing a double ton in Bangladesh last month.

Gill, who has been touted as the next big thing in Indian cricket ever since his exploits in the 2018 U-19 World Cup, hammered 19 fours and nine sixes, six of them coming after his 150. The double century was also his second successive three-digit score. — PTI

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