New Zealand recorded their maiden ODI series win in India.
Daryl Mitchell’s 137 and Glenn Phillips’s 106 led New Zealand to 337/8 in 50 overs. In response, Virat Kohli made a valiant 124, while Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana made fifties. But the remainder of the batters failed as India was bowled out for 296 and lost the game by 41 runs.
After the historic ODI series loss, Gill offered a frank assessment of where India fell short and why New Zealand deserved to win.
“For me, it wasn't that we didn't bat well. It was that we didn't bat long enough. When batsmen are getting starts, and they're not able to convert those starts, especially in high-scoring matches, it becomes very difficult. At least two batters need to go on and play that long inning. That was the difference between them and us,” Gill stated in the post-match press conference.
Openers Rohit Sharma (11) and Shubman Gill (23) failed, and so did the middle order of Shreyas Iyer (3) and KL Rahul (1).
Throughout the series, particularly in Indore, where Virat Kohli's century momentarily restored optimism, India was plagued by their incapacity to convert promising starts into game-winning runs.
“Whenever their batsmen got set, they scored long. That's the difference. Even in the first two matches, I got set, but I wasn't able to convert it into 100, 120, or 130, and that's something we need to get better at as a batting unit,” Gill added.
Shubman Gill also spoke about fielding lapses and dropped catches by the Indian team throughout the ODI series.
”Fielding lapses, too, proved costly. We dropped some catches at very important stages of the game. When those catches don't stick, it's not easy. It's one area we really have to improve,” Gill said.
(PTI inputs)