Shubman Gill equals HUGE Record of Babar Azam with Century in IND vs NZ 3rd ODI

IND vs NZ: Team India opener Shubman Gill has equalled Pakistan captain Babar Azam's record of scoring most runs in a 3-match bilateral ODI series

Source: Twitter

India's batting sensation Shubman Gill continued his brilliant run of form scoring another century in ODI cricket in the 3rd match between India and New Zealand. The 23-year-old scored an explosive 112 runs off just 78 deliveries smashing 13 fours and 5 sixes. Gill's innings of 112 in the third match wrote his name in the history books of cricket as he equaled Babar Azam's record of scoring the most runs in a 3-match bilateral ODI series. Pakistan captain Babar had scored 360 runs against West Indies in 2016 to become the batter with most runs against the opposition in a 3-match ODI series. On Tuesday (January 24), Gill equaled Babar's record of 360 runs in 3 games against the same opposition.

List of batters with most runs in a bilateral 3-match ODI series

360 Babar Azam vs WI 2016

360 Shubman Gill vs NZ 2023

349 Imrul Kayes vs Zim 2018

342 Quinton de Kock vs Ind 2013

330 Martin Guptill vs Eng 2013

Babar Azam has been selected in the ICC Men's ODI Team of the Year for the fourth time since 2017 (second time as captain) and first time in the ICC Men's Test Team of the Year #ICCAwards pic.twitter.com/kqKKtvEDsc

— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) January 24, 2023

In the second ODI match, Gill scored 40 off 53 as India chased a more than easy target of just 109 runs in 50 overs. In the first match, Gill created history becoming the youngest and latest batter to score a double-hundred in ODI cricket. He scored 208 off 149 balls toying with the New Zealand bowling attack.

Rohit Sharma scored his first ODI century in three years while Shubman Gill continued his explosive run to power India to 385 for nine in the third and final game against New Zealand on Tuesday. The two put up a belligerent 212-run opening stand as Rohit (101 off 85 balls) got to the three-figure mark for the first time since January 2020. Gill (112 off 78) got his fourth ODI hundred.

Rahul Dravid joked on the eve of the match that bowlers don't want to bowl as soon as they land in Indore because of the batter-friendly conditions. The batting great had a point.
The New Zealanders rolling over their arms during the first 25 overs would have shared Dravid's sentiment. At one point every ball that Rohit and Gill's bat touched was either flying to the boundary or over it.

Gill hit four fours and a six to plunder 22 runs off Lockie Ferguson in the eighth over, symbolising the kind of form the 23-year-old has been in lately. The youngster didn't have to even time the ball for it to run to the boundary. After three fours, he launched the short ball for an upper-cut six. He reached his half-century when he drove the ball square off extra cover for a stylish four. A couple of overs later Rohit, too, brought up his fifty with a flat six over Mitchell Santner's head.

With the outfield quick and the wicket flat, the rather inexperienced New Zealand bowling unit had no answers to the Indian openers' carnage. India raced to 200 with Rohit and Gill sharing 22 fours and 11 sixes between them.

Matching each other's strike rates, the 26th over saw both Rohit and Gill getting their centuries. Rohit pulled away to deep square to get to his century. Three balls later, Gill got to the triple-figure mark, his third in four innings. (With PTI inputs)