India cricket

Opener youngest to score ODI double hundred while the Kiwi batter's blazing 140 took the first ODI to final over. | Cricket.

Another six, muscled over square-leg, and Gill was adequately warmed up to hit three sixes in a row off Lockie Ferguson next over to reach his double in style. And then, in the final powerplay, when India didn’t hit a boundary for 27 balls, Gill ended the wait by hammering Blair Tickner for six over his head. On a stop-start track at Hyderabad where 34 was the next best score in India’s innings, Gill carved a calculated double by picking and milking his zones, relying on a dizzying range of back-foot punches, lofted drives and pull shots. This was Gill as he had always promised but rarely fulfilled, reaching 50 in 52 balls, hundred in 87 balls, 150 in 122 balls and 200 in 145 balls. In that sense, Gill’s double hundred wasn’t just a statistical achievement but also a resounding riposte, proving again that he is the best No 2 for India. Luck played a definitive role for Gill as he was dropped on 45 and 122.

Gill, reached the mark in 145 deliveries, making him the third-fastest Indian to reach the milestone.

The innings saw Rohit become the first cricketer to score three double centuries in ODI cricket. He reached the double-century mark in 151 deliveries, and eventually ended his innings at 264 runs. He scored a double hundred against Bangladesh at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram in December 2022.

The opener became the youngest cricketer to notch up an ODI double as his career-best 208 powered India's daunting total of 349/8 in the series opener ...

Amidst the four consecutive boundary-less overs was Shipley picking up his maiden ODI scalp when he trapped Washington Sundar LBW on 12 - a decision that the Indian burnt a review on - and Shardul Thakur sacrificing his wicket for on-song Gill after a terrible mix-up in the middle. Gill broke the shackles with two sixes off Tickner in the 48th over - first flat-batted straight into the sightscreen and second sent sailing deep into deep midwicket stands. He marked his new career-best score upon reaching 131 but a freakish decision from the third umpire put an end to his 74-run partnership with Pandya. Kohli was in and out in a jiffy, going back to defend a length ball from Mitchell Santner that turned only a touch to beat his outside edge and crash into the off-stump. After a 38-ball 34 to lead the way in India's steady start, Rohit threw it away when he was tad early on his lofted shot and skied it straight to mid-on. Gill nearly carried his bat through, converting his watchful start into a massive contribution, the highlight of which was the perfectly timed acceleration when he was just about starting to run out of partners.