Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], October 2 (ANI): Indian skipper Shubman Gill said that the team has unfinished business after losing the 2023 World Cup final to Australia, saying that one does not get many opportunities to represent the country in a World Cup.
Shubman, who had cracked a record-breaking 223* while successfully hunting down 406 runs in the second ODI against West Indies, was speaking to JioStar on Follow the Blues’ ‘The Shubman Show’ ahead of the third ODI.
The Indian skipper's words come after the launch of the 2027 Cricket World Cup schedule on Thursday. India will begin their ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2027 campaign against defending champions Australia in Cape Town on October 7, with the much-anticipated clash against Pakistan scheduled for October 10 in Johannesburg. India have been placed in Group A alongside Australia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Qualifier A for the 14-team tournament, which will be jointly hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
The opening fixture will see India take on Australia in a repeat of the 2023 World Cup final, where India's dominant 10-match win streak and record-breaking, heart-warming festivities came to an end at the hands of Travis Head, who scored a counter-attacking 137 in a chase of 241 runs.
Speaking on the show, Gill remarked that during the 2023 edition of the 50-over showpiece event at home, Team India looked like the best team in the tournament, but the nature of the World Cup is such that there is always that one bad game, and it happened to be the final for India.
"It is unfinished business because of the way we played throughout that World Cup. We were looking like the best team in the tournament. But World Cups are like that. You might play the entire tournament well, but you do not play one game well, and that game could be the final of the World Cup. So definitely, it is unfinished business," he said.
"And as a player, you do not get that many opportunities to represent your country in a World Cup. There could be two, three, four, five, you never know. So, every World Cup that you play for your country is a big honour. So, very grateful to be able to play another one," he said.
Gill had a solid WC debut campaign in 2023. After missing the first two games due to dengue, Gill scored 354 runs in nine matches and innings at an average of 44.25 and a strike rate of over 106, with four fifties and a best score of 92.
During the series-winning chase of 406 runs, Gill ended unbeaten at 223* in 133 balls, with 26 fours and eight sixes at a strike rate of over 167, which is the third-highest ODI score by a batter, next to Rohit Sharma (264) and New Zealand's Martin Guptill (237*).
Gill overtook Ishan Kishan's record of a 126-ball double ton against Bangladesh in 2022, reaching the milestone in 117 balls. Now, Gill, with two double tons, is the second batter alongside Rohit Sharma (3) with multiple double tons.
Gill reached his second successive hundred of the series and third-straight ODI ton on home soil in just 62 balls, overtaking Rohit's record for the fastest century by an Indian skipper. The 'Hitman' had cracked a 63-ball ton against Afghanistan in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup in Delhi.
This year in 11 ODIs and 10 innings, Gill has scored 894 runs at an average of 127.71 and a strike rate of 119.51, including three fours and five sixes.
In 69 ODIs and 68 innings, Gill has scored 3,712 runs at an average of 65.12 and a strike rate of over 103, with 11 centuries and 20 fifties. (ANI)
"You don't get many opportunities to represent your nation in WC": Gill calls 2027 World Cup "unfinished business"
