Powered by centuries from openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, India beat New Zealand by 90 runs on Tuesday to win the third one-day international and sweep the series.
Gill scored 112 runs off 78 balls and Sharma struck 101 off 85 as India piled up 385-9 in 50 overs.
“I have been batting well and just wanted to go that extra mile today,” Sharma said. “The pitch was really good for batting.”
Photo: AFP
In reply, Devon Conway scored 138 off 100, but it was not enough as New Zealand was bowled out for 295 runs in 41.2 overs at Holkar Cricket Stadium. Shardul Thakur (3-45) and Kuldeep Yadav (3-62) did most of the damage.
The Black Caps lost the three-match series 3-0. India won the first ODI in Hyderabad by 12 runs and the second in Raipur by eight wickets.
India became the top-ranked ODI team with the win. Former No. 1 New Zealand dropped to fourth.
“In the last six games, we have done most parts right, and that is the key in 50-over games,” Sharma said. “We have been consistent.”
Put in to bat, the Indian openers shared an impressive stand of 212 runs in 26.1 overs.
It was the highest first-wicket partnership in ODIs against New Zealand, exceeding 201 runs by Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir for India in 2009.
Sharma reached 100 off 83 balls, his second-quickest ODI century. India’s skipper hit nine fours and six sixes for his 30th ODI hundred.
At the other end, Gill scored a third ODI hundred in four innings. He hit 13 fours and five sixes to reach the landmark off 72 balls.
Overall, Gill scored 360 runs in three innings against New Zealand. It was the joint-highest for any batsman in a bilateral three-match ODI series along with Pakistan’s Babar Azam against West Indies in 2016.
Gill was named player of the series.
“It feels nice to perform throughout the series,” Gill said. “My approach didn’t change after the double hundred [208 in the first ODI]. It’s all about getting a start and converting every game if possible.”
Former NBA sensation Jeremy Lin, who recently announced he is joining the Kaohsiung Steelers in the P.League+, is to arrive in the country next week, the Taiwanese American wrote on Instagram yesterday. “I want to be very honest in telling everyone my plans because I don’t want any miscommunication. As of what I know, I will be flying to Taiwan next week, but I don’t know which day as I will need some time to meet my teammates, fit into the [team’s] system, and get prepared physically,” Lin said. Lin said he has not played an official basketball game for about two
Australian Open director Craig Tiley yesterday advised Novak Djokovic’s family to be “really careful” of people using the tournament’s global exposure as a platform for “disruptive” purposes. It follows a video posted on a pro-Russian YouTube account showing Djokovic’s father, Srdjan Djokovic, posing in Melbourne Park with a fan holding a Russian flag that featured the face of Vladimir Putin. It sparked a backlash from Ukraine and led to calls for Srdjan Djokovic to be banned from the tournament. He skipped his son’s semi-final victory on Friday, and it remains to be seen if he will be at today’s final. Tiley told the
More than two decades since their last FIFA World Cup triumph, and without a local consensus pick, Brazil are considering breaking an unwritten taboo: hiring a foreign coach. After six years in the job, Tite left the Brazil post last month following the Selecao’s World Cup quarter-final exit against Croatia. Despite knowing for some time before the Qatar showpiece that Tite was leaving, Brazilian Football Confederation president Ednaldo Rodrigues still has not found a replacement. Now he is widening his search. “We have no nationality prejudices,” he said on Tuesday last week. “We want it to be a respected coach who can bring a
A decade ago when the whippet-like Nairo Quintana burst onto the scene with stunning mountain escapes, Colombian cyclists looked poised to take over the world, but now the nation is in shock as three of its biggest stars flounder for very different reasons. At 32, Quintana is still Colombia’s most popular “beetle” — as its cyclists are known collectively — but he cannot even find a team. Egan Bernal, the only Colombian to win the Tour de France, is struggling to rediscover his former level after a near-fatal training crash, while Miguel Angel Lopez, nicknamed “Superman,” was kicked out of his team
RSS