Shubman Gill felt in this over that he too can score a double century, revealed after the match
Gill said, ‘I was not really thinking about 200, but once I hit sixes in the 47th over, I knew I could do it. Earlier I was playing by looking at the ball.
India beat New Zealand by 12 runs in the first match of the three-match ODI series on Wednesday night to take a 1-0 lead. An important contribution to this victory of Team India was opener Shubman Gill, who scored the first double century of his ODI career. Facing 149 balls, Gill played a brilliant inning of 208 runs with the help of 19 fours and 9 sixes. He was also awarded the Man of the Match award for this innings. Gill told after the match that he was not thinking about his double century till the 47th over, but as soon as he started hitting sixes, he thought of reaching the 200-run mark.
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“I was waiting impatiently to get on the field and do what I want to do,” said Gill, who arrived to collect the Man of the Match award.
Talking about his strategy, Gill said, “With the wickets falling, there were times when I wanted to get open and I am glad I could do it in the end. Sometimes when the bowler is on top, you need to make him feel the pressure. I needed to avoid the dot balls and show some intent and work hard in the gaps which I was doing.”
Gill said, “I was not really thinking about 200, but once I hit sixes in the 47th over, I knew I could do it. Earlier I was playing by looking at the ball.
Gill is now the youngest player to score a double century in men’s ODIs. He surpassed his teammate Ishan Kishan, who had scored 210 against Bangladesh last month at the age of 24 years and 145 days. Gill made this masterpiece at the age of 23 years and 132 days.
Gill said, “He (Kishan) is one of my best friends… It feels good when you want to do something and it is happening regularly.”
Gill took 19 innings to complete 1000 runs in ODIs, the joint second fastest with Pakistan’s Imam-ul-Haq. Pakistan batsman Fakhar Zaman is on top as the fastest to 1000 runs in 18 innings.