Shubman Gill is back, and back with a bang.

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Following a series of mediocre scores against New Zealand and Australia in Tests earlier, Gill grinds hard in the domestic to return to top form in the white-ball format. The right-handed batter was the star of the day alongside seamer Mohammed Shami (who picked a five-for), scoring his maiden ICC tournament hundred and calling it his ‘most satisfying innings’ to date. As a result, India beat Bangladesh by six wickets in their tournament opener in Dubai.

Also read | Champions Trophy 2025: Bangladesh’s Hridoy beats heat, cramps to hit maiden ODI ton against India

Opening alongside the skipper Rohit Sharma, who created history by becoming the second quickest batter to 11,000 ODI runs (after Virat Kohli) in 261 innings, Gill launched from the word go, keeping Bangladesh seamers quiet in the Powerplay. 

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Though India lost Sharma inside the first ten overs, with the middle order also failing to click, including Virat Kohli (22), Shreyas Iyer (15), and floater Axar Patel (8), Gill stood his ground, playing a mature knock to see his team home. 

The ODI vice-captain attacked the pacers, slamming a huge six and boundaries earlier, but what stood out was his game and gap-finding and single-taking abilities (in the middle overs), which helped India stay on track for an easy win.

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“Definitely one of my most satisfying innings that I have played and my first century in ICC events,” Gill said at the post-match presser. “Very satisfying and very happy with the way I performed. When me and Rohit bhai went out there, we thought cutting the ball wasn't easy because the balls which were outside the off-stump weren't coming onto the bat that nicely.” 

“So, I thought of using my feet to even the fast bowlers and tried to go over the circle,” Gill explained his game plan against the seamers.

Tackling spinners is an art

While Kohli and Axar fell prey to Rishad Hossain’s leg spin, Gill took his time to score against the spinners. Explaining further how he and Virat talked through trying to score runs against them, Gill said, 

“When the spinners came on, me and Virat bhai were talking in the middle that it's not easy to score singles off the front foot, so we'll try to score singles off the back foot. And it's not easy to hit down the ground, so we just keep rotating the strike. At one point, there was a bit of pressure on us.” 

“The message was sent from outside that I have to try to bat till the end, and that's what I tried to do. (On his two sixes) The first one gave me a lot of confidence, and the second one helped me come closer to my hundred, so both were very satisfying,” he continued.

Gill won the Player of the Match award for his magnificent match-winning hundred.

(With inputs from agencies)