Shubman Gill. (Picture Credit: AFP)
In his first series as captain of the Indian men’s cricket team, Shubman Gill helped the Men in Blue win four T20Is in a series played outside India.
Shubman Gill created history in his first T20I series as captain of the Indian men’s cricket team on Sunday (July 14) by becoming the first Indian skipper to win four T20Is in a series played abroad. India’s win by 42 runs in the fifth T20I played at Harare Sports Club on Sunday helped the 24-year-old right-handed top-order batter achieve the feat.
The Punjab-based cricketer was appointed as India’s captain for the five-match series in the absence of senior players, and he led from the front by scoring 170 runs in five matches.
Under his leadership, India bounced back from the shocking defeat by 13 runs in the series opener against the Sikandar Raza-led side and went on to win the five-match series by a margin of 4-1.
Gill, who is the 14th player to captain India in T20Is, has four wins to his name, which has helped him become the sixth-most successful Indian captain in the shortest format of the game. Rohit Sharma (50), MS Dhoni (42), Virat Kohli (32), Hardik Pandya (10), and Suryakumar Yadav (5) have only won more T20Is for India as captains than him.
In the fifth and final T20I played in Harare on Sunday, Sikandar Raza won the toss for the first time in five matches and invited India to bat first. India got off to a flying start after Yashasvi Jaiswal smacked two sixes on the first two balls of the match he faced, but his dismissal along with Abhishek Sharma and Gill in quick succession again brought Zimbabwe back into the game.
After a shocking collapse by the top order, Sanju Samson joined hands with Riyan Parag and added 65 runs for the fourth wicket. The 29-year-old wicketkeeper-batter top-scored for India by making 58 runs from 45 balls. During his stay at the crease, he also became the seventh Indian to hit more than 300 sixes in T20s.
In reply to the 168-run target, Zimbabwe could only manage to score 125 runs for the loss of 10 wickets in 18.3 overs. Pacer Mukesh Kumar picked up four wickets for 22 runs in 3.3 overs, and two batters were sent back to the pavilion by Shivam Dube, who also scored 26 runs from 12 balls. For his all-round show in the final match of the tour, Dube won the Player of the Match award.