India and New Zealand produced a thriller of a game when they faced off at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Wednesday. While India posted a target of 350 runs for the Kiwis and even reduced the visitors to 6 down for 131, Michael Bracewell's splendid hundred kept the Kiwis' hopes alive.
In the end though, India managed to seal the match by 12 runs with Shardul Thakur delivering a near-perfect yorker and Bracewell looking to win it for the Blackcaps. Despite Bracewell's 140 off 78 balls with the help of 12 boundaries and 10 sixes, the day belonged to Shubman Gill whose flamboyant 208 off 149 outshone even Bracewell's brilliance.
Gill became the fifth Indian batter to cross the double hundred mark in One Day Internationals (ODIs) also becoming the youngest in international cricket to achieve the feat. The batter whose record he broke to become the youngest to a double century- Ishan Kishan- also had scored his double hundred recently and the two along with the only batter to have scored three ODI Double centuries- Rohit Sharma- interacted after the match for BCCI TV.
In a hilarious incident from a short clip of the same shared by the BCCI on social media, Rohit asks Ishan about missing out on three games despite his 210 against Bangladesh to which the wicketkeeper-batter quickly responded that it is Rohit who should answer that question since he is the skipper.
Here is the video:
A 12-run win means India have gone 1-0 up in the three-match series. The two teams will now play the second ODI at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium in Raipur on Saturday. The final ODI will be played at the Holkar Stadium in Indore on January 24. The three-T20Is will follow the ODI series.