Indian skipper Shubman Gill has lauded the Indian middle-order batters Axar Patel and Washington Sundar for propelling the side over the line in the first ODI against England at Edgbaston, Birmingham, on Tuesday, July 14.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Gill was relieved with Axar and Sundar’s batting performance in the middle and death overs as the duo stitched an unbeaten 102-run stand for the fifth wicket to take the side over the winning line in 45.2 overs.
“When you see your middle and lower middle order score runs and finish the job, it gives confidence as a captain. It was about our combination,” Gill said after the game.
“We have a youngish bowling attack. Our batting is more experienced than our bowling. So even if we had a target of 300-320, we backed ourselves to chase that,” he added.
“Our bowling in the middle phase was good. We bowled the right areas, they got away at the end of the powerplay. We were put under pressure but how we came back and bounced back was important,” he stated.
Speaking about the match, England batted first and posted 258 runs in 47.5 overs. Joe Root was the top-scorer, scoring a 76-run knock, while Liam Dawson scored 68 runs. Axar racked up a four-fer.
In the chase, India won the game in 45.2 overs with six wickets in hand. Shubman Gill (80), Washington Sundar (52*), and Axar Patel (57*) were the top batters. Axar was adjudged the POTM for his all-round brilliance.
“We’ll try different combinations and see which gives us the best depth in both departments. The conditions were close to South Africa – the ball was kicking up, wasn’t easy to score. The wicket then settled nicely,” he concluded.
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