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India National Cricket Team captain Shubman Gill opened up on the performance of his side in the final ODI of the three-match series against the West Indies National Cricket Team on Wednesday, October 3, at the PCA Stadium, New Chandigarh. The West Indies beat the Men in Blue side by 6 wickets as the series ended 2-1 in favour of India.
Speaking after the loss, Shubman Gill was gutted with the performance of the bowling department and also slammed the fielders as two catches were dropped. He praised KL Rahul for his brilliant innings and was also happy with the total. He was the Player of the Series with 334 runs in the series.
KL Rahul, the backbone of India's middle order
Shubman Gill won the toss and opted to bat first as they made three changes in the dead rubber match; Mohammed Siraj, Nitish Kumar Reddy and debutant Anshul Kamboj came into the side. West Indies also made three changes. The Windies had a delightful start as Jayden Seales picked captain Gill for one run and then Virat Kohli for a golden duck.
Rohit Sharma stood strong as he continued his good form in the series as he took his time after India was reduced to 4/2 at one stage. He and Ruturaj Gaikwad stitched a partnership of 137 runs. Rohit fell short by 8 runs of his second hundred of the series; he was dismissed on the score of 92 runs, smashing 10 boundaries and three sixes.
Ruturaj smacked 57 runs, while KL Rahul played a brilliant knock of 129* runs off 87 deliveries, smacking 10 fours and 6 sixes. He came in a tricky situation where he needed to anchor and then took on an aggressive mode as India posted 351/7 in their 50 overs, scoring 105 runs off the last 10.
Shai Hope plays a stunning knock
While chasing, John Campbell was dismissed by a peach delivery from Mohammed Siraj, and then skipper Shai Hope and Amir Jangoo stitched a partnership of 109 runs, but a mix-up in the middle overs led to a run-out of the latter, as he was dismissed for 67 runs.
Shai Hope played a solid knock of 162* as West Indies won the match comfortably, as this was West Indies' highest successful run-chase in ODIs, as they chased down 352 runs. Hope’s innings was also the highest individual score in a run chase for the Caribbean side in this format.
Shubman Gill takes swipe at fielding after loss vs West Indies
Shubman Gill, after the match, stated that a lot of things went right for the team. However, he was dejected with the fielding performance of the side as he believes that it is an area of improvement ahead of the ODI World Cup 2027.
Shubman Gill said, (as quoted by Cricbuzz), "Lot of boxes ticked. There a few areas that need fine-tuning. I was happy with the total. We knew the match will go till the end, I wanted a couple of his (Kuldeep's) overs till the end. Our fielding could have been better. Death bowling as well. We are not clear whether we're attacking or defending. These are some areas we need to be better at."
