ICC Champions Trophy 2025: "We know the class he has.." Rohit Sharma heaps praise on Shubman Gill after match-winning century in IND vs BAN clash

Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill added 69 runs for the opening wicket.

India captain Rohit Sharma lavished rich praises on his young opener partner, Shubman Gill, following the youngster’s match-winning century against Bangladesh as India kicked off their ICC Champions Trophy 2025 campaign with a six-wicket win in Dubai.

Given a target of 229 runs, Rohit got the team off to a cracking start with his 41 off 36 but India then slipped to 144/4.

Gill and KL Rahul, then, steadied the ship with their stand of 87* runs to take India home. Gill notched up his seventh ODI century. He is in terrific form: Gill has hit two fifties and two centuries in his last four ODI innings.

In the post-match presentation, Sharma said of Gill, “We know the class he has. He’s been batting brilliantly of late and today what he showed us, it shouldn’t surprise anyone. What was good to see was he was there till the end.”

Very happy for Shami: Rohit Sharma

Another huge contributor to India’s victory was Mohammed Shami, who took his ODI career’s fifth five-wicket haul. Shami took two wickets in the powerplay and three wickets in the death overs.

Rohit said, “Very happy for Shami. Long time waiting. We know what he brings for us. The quality he has. Everytime we throw the ball at him he’s got something up his sleeve and we need guys like him to step up in big moments.”

India’s next match is on Sunday against arch-rivals Pakistan. Rohit is expecting the pitch to be once again slow and offer turn and grip.

Sharma added, “Not sure, but it will be pretty much similar I guess. I am not the curator here to tell you how exactly it will play but looks like it with the way the games have been played here.”

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