Though India won the ODI series against West Indies on Saturday, captain Shubman Gill is of the view that the victory has also highlighted areas that need to be addressed, with the 2027 World Cup only a year away. Gill expressed concerns over fielding and death bowling, which remains a wider challenge. Notably, India have limited matches left to identify and settle their best combination ahead of the big event, with Gill pointing to fielding and bowling at the death as areas that need improvement.
"I feel sometimes we are not really clear whether we are attacking or we are defending, especially when we are bowling in the death overs. One day is such a game; if the opposition is five or six down, you are never really sure what fields to take, whether we are going for the death too early or we are still, you know, bowling, kind of like middle overs. I think these are some areas which we definitely need to be better at,” Gill said at the post-match presentation.
During the West Indies series, India missed the services of Jasprit Bumrah, who was away on Asian Games duty, while Hardik Pandya was unavailable through injury. In their absence, the management brought in other players to explore combinations. Meanwhile, touching upon India’s overall performance against West Indies, Gill was ecstatic.
"Decently pleased", I would say. But I think there are still some areas - I think our fielding could be much better. Overall in the series, I think we dropped six or seven catches, which is not a good sign leading up to the World Cup. You want your fielding to be top-notch," he said.
Talking about the series, India won it 2-1 after clinching victories in the first two games. However, in the third game, West Indies thumped India by five wickets to end the series positively. They rode on a spectacular knock of 162* by Shai Hope to chase a target of 352 in 48.2 overs.