Indore, January 19
India captain Shubman Gill backed Rohit Sharma, who had a dismal batting performance in his side's 2-1 loss to New Zealand in the three-match ODI series.
New Zealand scripted history after they registered their first-ever ODI series win in India after defeating the Men in Blue comprehensively in the final ODI at the Holkar Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
During the third ODI, Sharma had a dismal outing with the bat, scoring 11 runs off 13 balls, including two fours, while chasing a competitive target of 338 runs.
The veteran opener scored 61 runs in three innings at an average of 20.33. Sharma failed to register a fifty in the series.
During the post-match press conference, Gill said that Sharma has been in terrific form since the Australia series. However, Gill highlighted that the veteran opener failed to convert his starts during the New Zealand series.
"I think Rohit Sharma is in terrific form, even right through from the Australia series, even in the South Africa series. I think, as I said, you won't always be able to convert the starts that you get. And I think Rohit got some starts in this New Zealand series as well. As a batsman, you always want to convert those starts and always want to make it count and make it into hundreds. But it's not possible to do it every time. But at the same time, that's something that you always strive to do," Gill said.
Coming to the match, New Zealand posted a challenging score of 337/8 in 50 overs in the do-or-die contest against India in Indore after being asked to bat first.
Daryl Mitchell smashed his consecutive century in the series. The right-handed batter hammered 137 runs off 131 deliveries, including 15 fours and one six.
Glenn Phillips played a superb knock of 106 runs off 88 deliveries, with nine fours and three sixes.
Towards the end, captain Michael Bracewell's unbeaten 28 off 18 deliveries, including four boundaries, guided New Zealand to 337/8 in 50 overs. With the ball, Arshdeep Singh (3/63) and Harshit Rana (3/84) scalped three wickets each for India.
While chasing, an incredible lone warrior century from Virat Kohli and his 99-run stand with lower-order batter Harshit Rana, who scored his maiden ODI fifty, went in vain.
Kohli played a fighting knock of 124 runs off 108 deliveries, including 10 fours and three sixes. Harshit Rana scored 52 runs off 43 balls, with eight boundaries.
Nitish Kumar Reddy made 53 off 57 deliveries, along with two fours and as many sixes as India were bundled out for 296 in 46 overs, and lost the contest by 41 runs.
Kristian Clarke (3/54) and Zakary Foulkes (3/77) were the pick of the bowlers for New Zealand, while Jayden Lennox bowled an impressive spell of 2/42.
- ANI
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