Indian opener Shubman Gill continued his outstanding run in ODIs as he brought up his fifth century in the format in 2023. Gill reached his century in the 33rd over of the innings in the second ODI of the series at Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore on September 24.
Gill completed his sixth ODI century from 92 balls. He took a quick single off Sean Abbott's bowling to reach the three figures. He became the seventh Indian batter to score five or more ODI hundreds in a calendar year.
For India, Virat Kohli (2012,2017, 2018, 2019), Rohit Sharma (2017, 2018, 2019), Sachin Tendulkar (1996, 1998), Rahul Dravid (1999), Sourav Ganguly (2000) and Shikhar Dhawan (2013) have done it before.
Earlier Ruturaj Gaikwad fell early to Josh Hazlewood after Steve Smith won the toss and opted to field first. Gill and Shreyas Iyer shared a 200-run partnership for the second wicket. It is the fifth second-wicket 200-run partnership against Australia in ODI history.
Meanwhile, Gill is closing in on former South Africa opener Hashim Amla’s record for fastest batter to reach 2,000 ODI runs. Amla breached the 2,000-run mark in the format from 40 innings whereas this is Gill’s 35th innings.
The 24-year-old could not go on to get a big hundred. He departed in the 35th over of the innings. Gill went for the big shot but played across the line against Cameron Green. The leading edge was caught by Alex Carey. His 97-ball 104 was studded with six fours and four sixes.
Gill and Iyer's centuries laid the platform for a big total. Half-centuries from KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav helped India post 399/4 on the board. This is India's highest ODI total against Australia.
Iyer lauded Gill during the innings break as he said, “Shubman and I, we played a pretty decent knock in the middle and we laid a great platform and steadied the ship for the team. The other batsmen came in and expressed themselves. I got a great start and after that, I was trying to play the ball on its merit. Shubman took on the charge and he was dictating the terms in the middle phase and then again I took the momentum. It was like creating a great rhythm between each other. It worked out for the team.”
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