AHMEDABAD: India completed a 3-0 series sweep against England after Shubman Gill’s fluent hundred, helped by some incisive bowling, secured their victory by 142 runs in the final One-day International in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

Gill smashed 112 to help India rack up 356 before being all out in exactly 50 overs, though a bigger total looked on the cards when they were cruising at 226-2 in the 35th over.

England could not capitalise on their flying start and were bowled out for 214 in 34.2 overs as India got a major boost ahead of the Champions Trophy later this month.

“Very pleased,” Indian captain Rohit Sharma said at the presentation ceremony. “When we came into the series, we knew there will be many challenges that we will have to face but we came out pretty well.

“Whatever was thrown at us, we responded pretty well throughout the series.”

Asked to bat, the hosts lost Rohit in the second over but Gill forged century-plus partnerships with Virat Kohli (52) and Shreyas Iyer (78) to lay the foundation for a big total.

Rohit fell to Mark Wood after making one but Kohli showed signs of form ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy, starting in Pakistan on Feb 19, with a run-a-ball fifty.

Adil Rashid (4-64) dismissed Kohli caught behind but Gill and Iyer milked the English attack with ease.

Gill, who went on to win both the player of the match and the player-of-the-series awards, needed 95 balls to bring up his seventh ODI hundred, which he reached with a four off Wood.

Rashid ended Gill’s knock when the opener attempted a cross-batted shot, only to miss the ball that crashed onto his stumps.

Iyer fell to a wayward ball from the leg-spinner which he tickled down the leg side to be caught behind, while KL Rahul departed after a cameo of 40.

The stage looked set for India to launch an onslaught but England fought back with the ball to deny them a late flourish.

Ben Duckett led England’s reply and hit Arshdeep Singh for four fours in a row.

Arshdeep recovered to exact revenge by removing England openers Duckett (34) and Phil Salt (23) - deceiving both with slower deliveries.

Axar Patel began with a maiden over as India not only stemmed the boundary flow but also struck back with their spinners.

Kuldeep Yadav dismissed Tom Banton, whose breezy 38 included two reverse-hit sixes, but England still had Joe Root (24) to bat around.

Root looked comfortable too but his innings was cut short when he dragged an Axar delivery onto his stumps.

Seamer Harshit Rana removed England captain Jos Buttler (six) and the dangerous Harry Brook (19) in successive overs to derail England’s chase.

Gus Atkinson made a defiant 38 before being the last wicket to fall.

“To be honest, we have been outplayed by a fantastic team,” Buttler said. “We were going to have to play really well to chase that down. We got off to a great start but... we need to extend that and take the game longer.”

India won the preceding T20 series between the sides 4-1.

Scoreboard

INDIA:

R. Sharma c Salt b Wood 1 S. Gill b Rashid 112 V. Kohli c Salt b Rashid 52 S. Iyer c Salt b Rashid 78 K. L Rahul lbw Mahmood 40 H. Pandya b Rashid 17 A. Patel c Banton b Root 13 W. Sundar c Brook b Wood 14 H. Rana c Buttler b Atkinson 13 A. Singh run out 2 K. Yadav not out 1 EXTRAS (LB-1, W-12) 13 TOTAL (all out, 50 overs) 356 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-6 (Sharma), 2-122 (Kohli), 3-226 (Gill), 4-259 (Iyer), 5-289 (Pandya), 6-307 (Patel), 7-333 (Rahul), 8-353 (Rana), 9-353 (Sundar) BOWLING: Mahmood 10-0-68-1 (1w), Wood 9-1-45-2 (2w), Atkinson 8-0-74-1 (3w), Root 5-0-47-1 (1w), Rashid 10-0-64-4, Livingstone 8-0-57-0 (1w)

ENGLAND:

P. Salt c Patel b Singh 23 B. Duckett c Sharma b Singh 34 T. Banton c Rahul b Yadav 38 J. Root b Patel 24 H. Brook b Rana 19 J. Buttler b Rana 6 L. Livingstone st Rahul b Sundar 9 G. Atkinson b Patel 38 A. Rashid b Pandya 0 M. Wood c Iyer b Pandya 9 S. Mahmood not out 2 EXTRAS (B-5, LB-4, W-3) 12 TOTAL (all out, 34.2 overs) 214 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-60 (Duckett), 2-80 (Salt), 3-126 (Banton), 4-134 (Root), 5-154 (Buttler), 6-161 (Brook), 7-174 (Livingstone), 8-175 (Rashid), 9-193 (Wood) BOWLING: Singh 5-0-33-2 (1w), Rana 5-1-31-2 (1w), Sundar 5-0-43-1 (1w), Patel 6.2-1-22-2, Pandya 5-0-38-2, Yadav 8-0-38-1 RESULT: India won by 142 runs. PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Shubman Gill SERIES: India won the three-match series 3-0. PLAYER-OF-THE-SERIES: Shubman Gill

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2025