Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], June 20 : Following his side's whitewash series win over Afghanistan, Indian skipper Shubman Gill admitted that the team ticked a lot of boxes with both bat and ball in the middle overs during he course of the series and anticipates the ODI series challenge in England, where he feels the conditions will be very close to what the 2027 ICC Cricket World Cup hosts South Africa will offer.
After a setback in Australia and a series loss to New Zealand at home earlier this year, Gill has a series win as an ODI captain to his name finally. Throughout the series, India's new generation of pacers, Gurnoor Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav and Prasidh Krishna delivered some fine performances, while the skipper also got some much-needed runs under his belt. Gill was adjudged as the 'Player of the Series' for 238 runs in two innings, with a century and a fifty to his name.
Former Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, with a fluent 48 in the second ODI and a well-compiled 79 in the third ODI, buys himself some more time as he remains in scrutiny of selectors' for his fitness and form leading upto the 2027 World Cup, with his knocks showing that he is not the one to be written off so easily.
Runs from KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan and Yashasvi Jaiswal were also high points for Team India and will give them plenty to think about in terms of batting options.
Speaking after the match, Gill highlighted the starting spell of Gurnoor and Prasidh, saying, "Gurnoor and Prasidh was outstanding to see that kind of pace in those conditions was not easy, but I think they kept putting their effort and kept pushing. (Were you tempted to give them that one extra over?) I mean, definitely you are, but you know, looking at the weather, I did ask them if they wanted to bowl that one extra over, but they were pretty exhausted."
On the boxes he feels Team India ticked during the series, Gill said, "lot of the boxes are ticked. We spoke about keeping the intensity in the middle overs, and some of the things that we also spoke about was how we can keep creating those opportunities in the middle overs as a bowling unit and as a batting unit, how we can keep pushing for the extra runs in the middle overs. And I think a lot of those boxes were ticked."
Looking forward to the England challenge, Gill said, "The conditions would be a little bit more similar to what we get in South Africa, not quite similar, but still close to that. So the kind of combination that we would be looking to play there, hopefully, we have all the players fit and ready, it is going to be another great series for us."
Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi lauded Team India's bowling in the powerplay and lamented on his team's poor finishing with the bat.
"I think today, at the first 10 overs, I think they bowled well, but we lost wickets that put us under pressure. And after that, me and Azmat had a good partnership, but again, we didn't finish well in the batting because after that partnership, we lost back-to-back wickets. That is why we fell short while scoring runs," he added.
On getting his maiden ODI ton after 95 matches, he said, "I feel good, and Inshallah, I will try my best to, from today, to do it again and again for my country. And yeah, it was so hot, and I was feeling cramping. I am feeling good now."
Speaking on his team's plans going ahead, he said, "I think we have talented guys, but when it comes to India, playing in India is a tough side, and we will learn. We were not good. We will learn from that. And moving forward, I think we are a quality side, but we were away from ODI cricket because last year we played Bangladesh eight months ago. So we play Ireland next, and in the three games, we will work on that, and yeah, the coach is also new, and we will try to work together as a team," he signed off.
After a century from skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi (102 in 131 balls, with 13 fours and a six) and fifty from Azmatullah Omarzai (50 in 56 balls, with five fours and two sixes) carried Afghanistan to 218 after a pace onslaught from Prasidh Krishna (5/23), Jaiswal (110* in 86 balls, with 14 fours and three sixes) and Rohit Sharma (79 in 69 balls, with nine fours and three sixes) ate into the majority of the target by themselves with a 170-run stand for the first wicket. Jaiswal and Shreyas Iyer (20*) motored along to the target, with over 21 overs left.