Patched-up England toiled in the Ahmedabad heat as Shubman Gill’s classy 112 off 102 balls underpinned India’s 356 all out in their bid to seal an ODI series whitewash. With Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse and Jamie Overton all nursing niggles and rested for their final outing before the Champions Trophy, England were put to the sword and for large spells bereft of ideas. In stifling conditions, Mark Wood removed India captain Rohit Sharma with his first ball but Gill put on 116 with Virat Kohli (52) and 104 with Shreyas Iyer (78) as a 400-plus total loomed large.
Adil Rashid’s four for 64 helped to wrestle back some momentum as India lost regular wickets towards the back end of the innings, with Wood, who spent time off the field with heat exhaustion, taking two for 45. By the end, England seemed relieved to get off the field, having elected to bowl first, and require what would be their third highest successful chase in ODIs to avert a 3-0 defeat and seventh loss in eight matches on this tour.
A match-winning centurion in Cuttack, Rohit was undone in the second over when Wood’s angled in delivery moved away and clipped the edge, with Phil Salt taking an excellent catch diving to his right. Kohli was beaten first up as Wood continued to cause problems before briefly leaving the field after a four-over burst, bringing back unwelcome memories of England’s nadir at the 2023 World Cup when they struggled badly in the Mumbai heat and collapsed to a record defeat to South Africa.
Kohli then somehow survived after being beaten through the gate by Saqib Mahmood, with the ball fractionally missing both the inside edge and the stumps. Joe Root took top and outside edges of Kohli, which went for four, before being hooked after conceding 24 off two overs, with Gill eager to get down the track and punch the quicks down the ground. The highlight was a 90-metre six when he shimmied down to Gus Atkinson and thrashed over long-on.
Liam Livingstone was driven back over his head in short order by Gill and Kohli, who in the next over perished to Rashid for the fifth time in ODIs after getting a tickle to Salt from a big leg-break. Gill, though, and Iyer made vital fifties in India’s series-opening win in Nagpur last week and the pair made sure no momentum was lost in another 100-plus stand. Gill brought up a 95-ball ton with a clip off the returning Wood for his 14th four and then hammered a six off Rashid, who had his revenge from the next delivery as India’s opener missed a lazy swipe across the line and saw his stumps rearranged.
Iyer perished when he was strangled down the leg-side by Rashid, who was deposited over the rope twice by Hardik Pandya (17) before castling the all-rounder after he missed a defensive push. KL Rahul made a quickfire 40 before being pinned lbw by Mahmood, reward for his manful efforts, before cameos from Washington Sundar (14) and Harshit Rana (13) got India over 350 before Arshdeep Singh was run out off the final ball.
