A series that was promoted as a test of the old guard has quickly become a stage for asserting the incumbent captain’s hold over the role.
Shubman Gill was handed the reins of the ODI team last October, to go with his Test captaincy, and there are ample indications that the selectors and the team management lean towards having one skipper across the three formats. But with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma still around in the 50-over game, they still cast a long shadow over the team they have built over a long period of time.
But with Kohli missing the Afghanistan series due to injury and Rohit not managing a substantial knock in the first two games, the stage was set for Gill to show – with the bat – that he is the man to lead from the front. After shepherding a chase of 195 in 25 overs in Dharamsala, that could have got tricky, staying till the end as Kohli used to, the captain took control of proceedings, after India were sent in at Lucknow with a century that oozed calm, class and control from the first ball he faced.
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That the latter innings came at No.3 – after giving up his customary opening slot to Yashasvi Jaiswal for the game – would only buttress his captaincy credentials and paint a picture of a captain who thinks of the bigger picture and not just about his own fortunes. When Jaiswal failed to make the opportunity count, Gill ensured there was no cause for alarm.
Risk-free batting
The innings, and the shots that comprised it, wouldn’t have looked out of place in a Test match. There was no frenetic hitting even as Gill and Rohit ensured a run rate of around eight runs an over in the Powerplay. Some of the cover drives he unleashed from the start of his innings had connoisseurs drooling. His mastery on the offside meant he was only seeing gaps, relying on timing and placement instead of brute strength. The current captain and his predecessor in a big partnership would have been a narrative for the broadcasters to bite into, but Rashid Khan didn’t play ball, breaching Rohit’s defence when he was two short of a half-century.
Gill slammed his ton in 79 deliveries. (PTI)
That left the stage open for Gill, and as he approached three figures, the onus was largely on Ishan Kishan to play the big shots – an ode to the time when the rest of the batting order used to play around Kohli as he came close to a milestone. The pattern ensured that Ishan entered the 90s before the captain reached three figures – off 77 balls with almost 18 overs left in the innings. Kishan got to his hundred soon after – in 71 deliveries.
India will face tougher opposition than Afghanistan as they build towards the 2027 ODI World Cup – and other teams will not be so shoddy in the field and toothless in attack under an unforgiving sun – but the two matches have been useful in conveying who is in charge, as the phase of ‘transition’ becomes operational.
