Shubman Gill hits 62-ball century as India chase 406 in second ODI at Guwahati
Shubman Gill scored a 62-ball century to register his 11th ODI hundred as India chased 406 against the West Indies in the second ODI at Guwahati on Wednesday. The knock was Gill's second successive century in ODIs.
He reached the milestone by clipping Alzarri Joseph through the leg side for four, removed his helmet, raised his bat to the stands and was embraced by Rohit Sharma, who had been the aggressor earlier in the innings; the celebration was relatively muted. The West Indies had posted their highest-ever ODI total, 405 for seven, surpassing their previous best of 389 against England in 2019.
AB de Villiers holds the record with four consecutive ODI centuries in India between 2010 and 2011, while Virat Kohli also managed four between 2017 and 2018. Gill's latest hundred took him to three in succession.
Gill began the chase cautiously, allowing Rohit to take the attack to the West Indies bowlers before accelerating once he settled. The India captain gradually began finding the boundary with increasing regularity and the opening pair alternated roles, one taking charge while the other rotated the strike. Their partnership kept India ahead of the required rate and provided the hosts with hope of a record chase.
The West Indies innings featured three centuries. John Campbell hit a 65-ball century and finished with 101 off 68 balls, striking nine fours and five sixes; Shai Hope made 104 off 94 deliveries; and Amir Jangoo reached his second ODI century from 69 balls and remained unbeaten on 114 with 13 fours and three sixes. It was the first time the West Indies had three centurions in a single ODI innings.
India's pace attack struggled on a flat Guwahati surface. Auqib Nabi, who became the third cricketer from Jammu and Kashmir to represent India, conceded 84 runs in 8.5 overs on debut. Gurnoor Brar took two wickets but conceded 96 runs, while Prasidh Krishna returned figures of one for 45 from five overs; India also faced an injury concern when Naman Dhir twisted his ankle after bowling 6.1 overs and was forced off the field.
The spinners provided some control in the middle overs. Kuldeep Yadav took two wickets for 65 runs to complete 200 ODI wickets, and Ravindra Jadeja finished with figures of 2/75.
Jasprit Bumrah was away on Asian Games duty and Mohammed Siraj remained unavailable, leaving India with an inexperienced pace unit that had few answers to the West Indies' aggressive batting.
