NEW DELHI: Shubman Gill celebrated his first ODI victory as India’s captain after leading the team to a 3-0 sweep of Afghanistan. India ended the series whitewash with a massive nine-wicket win in the third ODI at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Saturday.Winning this match is a huge milestone for Gill, whose previous ODI stints as captain against Australia and New Zealand ended in defeat. Gill also enjoyed a very good run with the bat. After leading India to an innings-and-300-run victory over Afghanistan in the one-off Test, he followed that up by leading the team to a 3-0 ODI series win.The 26-year-old finished top scorer in the series with 238 runs in three matches at an average of 238.00 and a strike rate of 135.23. The result was a century and a half.His performance earned him the Player of the Series award – the sixth award of his ODI career.
Multiple Player of the Series awards for India in ODIs
Sachin Tendulkar – 15- Virat Kohli – 11
- Sourav Ganguly – 7
- Yuvraj Singh – 7
- MS Dhoni – 7th
Rohit Sharma – 6- Shubman Gill – 6
Reflecting on the series, Gill was pleased with how India went about their plans.“A lot of boxes are ticked. We talked about keeping momentum between the overs and some of the things we talked about was how we can continue to create opportunities between the overs as a bowling unit and as a batting unit, how can we continue to push for extra runs between the overs and I think most of those boxes have been ticked.”India’s victory in Chennai was anchored by Prasidh Krishna, who took his maiden ODI five-wicket haul with figures of 5/23, and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored an unbeaten 110.Gill praised Prasidh and fellow runner Gurnoor Brar for their opener.“Indeed. I think the first spell that Gurnoor (Brar) and Prasidh bowled was very good. To see such quality in the event was not easy. I mean, you’re tempted to give them more, but looking at the weather, I asked them if they wanted more, but they were too tired. “India’s next challenge is a three-match ODI in England from July 14 to 19. Gill believes that what is happening there will provide useful preparation for the 2027 ODI World Cup. “Going to England, the conditions would be a little bit similar to what we get in South Africa, not the same, but close to it. So the kind of combination we would be looking to play there, hopefully with all the players fit and ready, it will be another good series for us.”
