Ahmedabad, Feb 12: Opener Shubman Gill’s (112) seventh century in the 50-over game alongside crucial half-centuries by Shreyas Iyer (78) and Virat Kohli (52) helped India post a massive total of 356, their highest-ever total at the venue, against England in the third and final ODI being played at the Narendra Modi Stadium here on Wednesday.

England skipper Jos Buttler completed a hat-trick by winning the toss for the third straight game and elected to field first, after having opted to bat in the first two games.

Rohit Sharma (1), after hitting a stellar century in the second game, was dismissed by Mark Wood off his first delivery. A good length delivery, angling into off-stump, forced the Indian skipper to play at it and found the outside edge which was comfortably caught by a diving Phil Salt. Gill and Virat Kohli (52) put on a steady 116-run stand to steady the ship for India. Both batters took their time to get set and carefully rotated the strike in the opening overs.

Things got lively in the seventh over when Kohli was almost run out on the first ball of Saqib Mahmood’s over. The right-handed batter clipped the ball towards and dashed for a quick single which was dismissed by Gill but Kohli was already halfway down the pitch. The 36-year-old ran back and just made it back in time to save his wicket.

However, it seemed the close call removed Kohli’s early nerves as he struck Mahmood for back-to-back boundaries on the next two deliveries. India raced to 52/1 at the end of the Power-play and shifted gears from thereon out.

The duo targeted Joe Root, who came for his first spell in the 11th over and hit five boundaries in the England all-rounder’s first two overs, causing Buttler to bring Adil Rashid in hopes of counterattacking the duo.

With Adil spinning webs around the Indian batters from one end, the duo targeted Liam Livingstone and hit one six each in the 18th over. Kohli and Gill reached their half-centuries in 50 and 51 deliveries respectively. Just when it seemed the duo was on to get big scores, Rashid got the better of Kohli to end his fine innings.

A flighted delivery forced Kohli to get on the front foot but the ball turned sharply taking Kohli’s outside edge for a simple catch by Salt.

Iyer, whose place in the starting XI was not cemented heading into the three-game series, took the game to the English spinners and went on to stitch a 104-run stand with his vice-captain.

Gill completed his seventh ODI hundred in 95 balls marking his first century in the format since September 2023 when he scored 104 against Australia. His innings, which came to an end shortly after reaching the milestone, saw him hit 14 boundaries and three sixes, before losing his wicket to Adil.

A poor shot choice from the 25-year-old saw him try to play a standing sweep shot but the full-length delivery ended up hitting the timber bringing close to a brilliant innings.

Iyer on the other hand continued the onslaught as he struck at a strike-rate of 121.87 in an innings laced with eight boundaries and two sixes before falling victim to Rashid Khan.

With two new batters at the crease in K.L. Rahul (40) and Hardik Pandya (17), India continued to cruise to a massive score. Things got heated in the 41st over. Pandya struck Rashid for back-to-back sixes, over wide long-off and Long-off respectively, before being bowled by Rashid, who claimed his fourth on the day on the final ball of his 10-over spell.

Despite a few wickets having fallen in quick succession, India were still moving at a strong pace having reached the 300-run mark in the 43rd over.

Cameos at the end by Rahul, Axar Patel (13), Washington Sundar (14), Harshit Rana (13), Arshdeep Singh (2), and Kuldeep Yadav (1) took India to their highest-ever score at the venue.

The highest successful chase at the venue belongs to India when they chased 325 successfully against West Indies in 2010 thanks to an unbeaten 109 by Rahul Dravid.

Brief score:

India 356 all out in 50 overs (Shubman Gill 112, Shreyas Iyer 78, Virat Kohli 52, KL Rahul 40; Adil Rashid 4-64, Mark Wood 2-45) v England

--IANS

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