‘It was a near-perfect game for me’

AHMEDABAD: Young opener Shubman Gill said his unbeaten 63-ball 126 was “tactically and technically” a near-perfect game as it set up India’s huge series-clinching 168-run win in the third T20I against New Zealand.

Gill smashed 12 boundaries and seven maximums in his scintillating maiden century in the shortest format to power India to a mammoth 234 for 4 in the final T20I.

The host then bundled out New Zealand for 66 in 12.1 overs to not only win the match but also secure a 2-1 series win.

“To be able to play how I play, I have to be mentally clear,” Gill said during an interaction with skipper Hardik Pandya, a video of which was posted on BCCI.tv.

“This is what you (Hardik) told me. Every time I hit a six, he came and told me -- hold your shape in the next ball, you don’t have to do anything extra, just do what you are doing and don’t try to go too hard. Every ball he kept reminding me and that helped.

“In the last over of (Mitchell) Santner, I was in the zone and I was hitting. So, I thought I will go after him but you asked me to hold myself back and target other bowlers because he (Santner) is bowling well in the entire T20 series. So, tactically and technically it was a near-perfect game for me.”

‘Player of the series’ Pandya snapped four wickets as he bowled with the new ball to dismiss Finn Allen and Glenn Phillips. He later returned to take two more wickets to demolish the Kiwis.

“Four wickets, to be honest, are just part and parcel of the sport but I think I bowled at 145 (kmph) if I am not wrong and that kind of gave me the happiness and the smile you can see. So, I told him (Gill) Wednesday that it is my last game and I am going on a break,” said Hardik, who will play his next game in about two months’ time.

“So, today (Wednesday) going to be all guns blazing and I am going to bowl as fast as possible and, to be honest, the kind of start we got, it made our life very easy.”