India captain
Shubman Gill has welcomed the wealth of top-order options at the team’s disposal in their run up to the 2027 ODI World Cup. After falling cheaply in the second ODI against Afghanistan in Lucknow,
Yashasvi Jaiswal proved his one-day chops with an unbeaten century in the third game
in Chennai. Rohit Sharma, 39, also played his part, hitting an unbeaten 79 off 69 balls in a successful chase of 219.
Beyond Gill, Rohit, Jaiswal and Ishan Kishan, Ryan ten Doeschate, India’s assistant coach, suggested on the eve of the Chennai ODI that the team management is also looking at B Sai Sudharsan as a one-day opener for the future.
“It’s a good kind of headache having all the players that are performing,” Gill said of Jaiswal and Rohit’s form after India beat Afghanistan 3-0. “So, we will see the [ODI] squad for England [
tour of five T20Is and three ODIs begins July 1] and we will put out our best XI. I mean, we will see where everyone’s fitness is. If everyone is fit, like I said, the squad will be announced and we will see who is in the squad and based on the squad, we will try to make the best XI possible.”
Jasiwal is not a regular in India’s ODI XI – he was pushed to the sidelines just after he had made an unbeaten 116 against a South Africa attack that included Marco Jansen, Lungi Ngidi and Keshav Maharaj in Vizag
last December. On Saturday, he scored another hundred and acknowledged the support he has had from the team management.
“I just focus on my process – what is in my control and try to work hard as much as I can and there’s all support from the support staff,” Jaiswal said. “They have been amazing to me and the communication is unreal so. I know what’s going on and I’m really enjoying it.”
Gill was also pleased with
Gurnoor Brar‘s performance in his maiden international series – the 21-year-old fast bowler emerged as the highest wicket-taker in the three-match series against Afghanistan – but felt that he’s not a finished article yet.
While Brar hit speeds north of 145kph and generated steep bounce on Saturday, he couldn’t quite maintain the accuracy that he showed across the first two matches. He came away with figures of 1 for 49 in his eight overs.
“Yes, he did tick most of the boxes but there are some things that he can only learn from experience,” Gill said of Brar. “Hopefully he is going to keep growing as a bowler. For me, if I’m to be really critical, he did go for a little bit of runs. He was a little bit inconsistent at times but he is young, he is playing his first series at the top level and he is bowling quickly. He has got all the good signs that we want from a young, tall, fast bowler. And with experience, he is only going to get better.”
Another takeaway for India was left-arm fingerspinner
Harsh Dubey who bowled tight lines and lengths in conditions not conducive to spin in Dharamsala and Chennai. Dubey was not needed with the bat in both those games, but Gill believes that he can do a job should the team need his secondary skill. Dubey has scored nine first-class fifties to go with three fifties in white-ball cricket at the domestic level.
“Yes, definitely [he has the potential to be an allrounder],” Gill said. “If we see the pool of allrounders, more specifically left-arm all-rounders who can bat, he is one of those players we have got. Axar [Patel] bhai, him, Jaddu [Ravindra Jadeja] … so we have got a good pool. He [Dubey] is someone who is very young and when we look at allrounders like him, it is important that we have the confidence in these kind of players that they can bowl ten overs for us and if need be there is seven runs or right runs per over, you need 80 in the last ten overs, they can get the job done for us.”
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