Shubman Gill, the freshly crowned top men’s ODI batter, produced a gutsy eighth century in the 50-over format to lead India to a six-wicket victory over Bangladesh at the Dubai International Stadium on Thursday, kicking off their 2025 ICC Champions Trophy campaign on a positive note.
After Mohammed Shami’s 5-53 helped India bowl out Bangladesh for 228, Gill took his time before grinding it out on a slow pitch and under pressure from wickets dropping around to score an unbeaten 101 off 129 balls, including nine fours and two sixes. Despite being his slowest ODI century, it was worth its weight in gold in terms of giving India more confidence going into the match against Pakistan.
Gill received good support from captain Rohit Sharma, who scored a quick 41, and later from KL Rahul, who battled through a difficult period to hit a very calm and composed 41 off 47 balls, demonstrating why he is preferred over Rishabh Pant for the wicketkeeper-batter slot, as India finished the chase with 21 balls to spare.
Chasing 229, Gill started with a beautiful pull and loft off Taskin Ahmed for two fours, but Rohit struggled to get going as Mustafizur Rahman squared him up with angled deliveries. After that, Rohit opened up wonderfully, hitting him for five boundaries, one of which propelled him to become the fourth Indian hitter to score 11,000 runs in ODIs.
After Gill flicked Taskin over mid-on for four, Rohit guided him for two boundaries through the off-side in the eighth over. Gill wowed everyone by throwing a short-arm jab and striking Taskin over cover for six and four, respectively. But Rohit’s fast start came to an end when he sprinted down the pitch to loft Taskin but toe-edged to cover-point, falling for 41 off 36 balls.
With the ball turning old with dew on the ground, Bangladesh’s spinners found some turn, forcing Gill and Virat Kohli to take it slowly. Just as Bangladesh appeared to be putting pressure on Kohli, he hit his first boundary by pulling a short ball down leg-stump from Mehidy Hasan Miraz. However, Kohli couldn’t hold the cut down in the following over and sliced straight to the backward point off leg-spinner Rishad Hossain.
Gill marched ahead to score his fifty in 69 balls, the shortest half-century he’s ever made in ODIs, despite Shreyas Iyer surviving a run-out chance. After cutting Mustafizur through backward point, Shreyas fell on the very next ball, toe-ending a loft on an off-cutter to mid-off. Three overs later, Axar Patel attempted a slog but got a top edge, which Rishad securely caught off his own bowling.
Gill & KL Rahul had a sensible strategy, focussing on rotating the strike and striking a boundary when the ball was best suited to the ropes. Rahul gained a life on nine as Jaker Ali missed his catch at deep square leg. To add salt to the wound, Bangladesh bowled two loose balls, which Gill and Rahul smacked for four and six, respectively.
Gill went back and short-arm jabbed Rishad through mid-wicket for four, bringing his key partnership with Rahul to fifty. Rahman was later sliced through point for a magnificent boundary. Gill flicked and pulled Tanzim for six and four, respectively, before completing his century. Rahul concluded the chase in style, pulling sixes to help India win their Champions Trophy campaign.
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