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Indian opener Shubman Gill stood tall amidst wickets falling at the other end in a tricky run chase to bring up his fifth ODI century. In a dead rubber clash against Bangladesh in Asia Cup 2023, Gill not only scored a century but became the first batter in the year to complete 1,000 ODI runs.
Gill got off to a good start with a couple of boundaries off Mustafizur Rahman. KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav got decent starts but failed to convert them into big scores. Gill got to his half-century from 61 balls. Later, he accelerated with a couple of sixes off Mehidy Hasan Miraz in the 36th over. He reached his century from 117 balls.
The 24-year-old stepped on the accelerator again. He took on Mahedi in the 44th over smashing him for a massive six. But Mahedi had the last laugh as he pitched one wide of off stump and Gill could not clear the boundary. He took 133 balls to score 121 runs. His century featured eight fours and five sixes.
After Gill's wicket, Axar Patel kept the run chase alive. He contributed with a 34-ball 42. Unfortunately for Team India, the southpaw's knock came to an end in the penultimate over. With no recognised batter in the middle in the final over, India lost the match by six runs.
Rohit Sharma praised his opening partner for his valiant knock in the post-match presentation as he said, “Gill's hundred was brilliant. He backs his game, he knows exactly how he wants to play. Pretty clear on what he wants to do for the team. Look at his form over the last year. Pretty solid against the new ball. Works really hard, there's no optional practice for Gill.”
In the calendar year, Gill has scored over 1,000 runs including four centuries and as many half-centuries. His best knock came against New Zealand when he scored his maiden double-century in January.
The next Indian on the list is skipper Rohit Sharma who has scored 577 runs from 14 innings including one century and half-centuries. He is followed by Virat Kohli with 556 runs from 12 innings including three centuries and a half-century.
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