Young India opener Shubman Gill on Wednesday surpassed former captain Sourav Ganguly in the list of most ODI runs in a calendar year during his team’s World Cup semifinal against New Zealand at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Gill overcame Ganguly’s tally of 1579 runs in 41 innings in the year 2000. He crossed the tally in his 28th innings of the year and has now scored 1579 ODI runs in 2023.
Overall, the 24-year-old Gill sits joint-seventh in the list, which is topped by Sachin Tendulkar. Legendary Tendulkar holds the record for the most runs in a year when he hit 1894 runs in 33 innings in 1998.
Unfortunately, Gill had to retire hurt due to cramps after scoring 79 runs off 65 deliveries, hitting eight boundaries and three sixes. India were cruising at 164 for 1 when Gill walked off in the 23rd over.
Thereafter, Shreyas Iyer joined Virat Kohli at the crease and he was soon among the runs. Iyer unleashed a couple of big hits against Rachin Ravindra in the 27th over. On the other hand, Kohli reached his half-century, a first-ever for him in a World Cup knockout game, in the same over.
Earlier, India won the toss and opted to bat first in the highly anticipated match. The game is a replay of the first semifinal from the 2019 edition of the World Cup where the Kane Williamson-led side beat India in England.
Both sides were unchanged for the semi-final and the onus is on their big stars to shine in an all-important clash.
Playing XIs:
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj.
New Zealand: Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson (c), Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wk), Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult.