BRISBANE, Australia
\nShubman Gill\u2019s India squad is taking confidence out of a rain-marred 2-1 series win over Australia ahead of the Twenty20 Cricket World Cup it is co-hosting with Sri Lanka early next year.
\nIndia raced to 52 without loss in 4.5 overs in Game 5 on Saturday before lightning forced players and officials off the field at the Gabba.
\nThe rain set in soon after, and the match was called off more than two hours later without a further ball being bowled.
\nShubman Gill plundered the bowling, stroking six boundaries as he scored 29 off 16 deliveries. Abhishek Sharma had two reprieves and was 23 off 13, including a flat-batted six over mid-wicket.
\nIn the process, Abhishek passed 1,000 career runs in T20 international cricket in just his 28th innings, second on India\u2019s all-time list behind Virat Kohli, who reached the milestone in 27.
\nHe said taking on the Australian bowling from the very first over was his plan coming into the tour.
\n\u201cWhen you\u2019re playing like this, when you want to dominate the opposition, you have to have that confidence and that ability,\u201d Abhishek said. \u201cI think the captain and coach always back me in that.\u201d
\nIt was the second washout of the series, after Game 1 in Canberra was abandoned after 9.4 overs on Oct. 29.
\nIndia took a 2-1 series lead with a 48-run victory Thursday on the Gold Coast, where Washington Sundar took three wickets in five deliveries to snuff out Australia\u2019s run chase.
\nGill said beating Australia at home was an important challenge ahead of the T20 World Cup, and gave the selectors plenty of options to build a squad for a title defense.
\n\u201cGood headache to have,\u201d he said, adding that India\u2019s win in the Women\u2019s ODI World Cup on home soil earlier this month had increased expectations.
\n\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of excitement, support and responsibility at home.\u201d
\nResponding to a question about the key takeaways from the series in Australia, Gill pointed to the trophy and smiled.
\n\u201cThere\u2019s never anything like all bases covered. We always learn from this game,\u201d he said. \u201cUntil now, things look good \u2026 let\u2019s continue that.\u201d
\nBoth teams now turn attention from the shortest to the longest format in international cricket.
\nAustralia\u2019s next assignment is the first Ashes test against England in Perth starting Nov. 21. India is hosting South Africa in a two-test series starting Nov. 14.
\nTwo uncharacteristic dropped catches had Australia under pressure after skipper Mitch Marsh won the toss and sent India in to bat on Saturday.
\nGlenn Maxwell put down a regulation chance in the first over despite getting two hands to it at mid-off when Abhishek miscued a Ben Dwarshuis delivery.
\nGill hit the next ball for a boundary down the ground.
\nDwarshuis conceded four boundaries in his next over \u2014 the third of the innings \u2014 with Gill finding the rope down the ground and on both sides of the wicket.
\nAbhishek had a second reprieve on 13 when he misjudged a faster ball from Nathan Ellis in the fourth over and Dwarshuis dropped a catch at fine leg.
\nAbhishek cleared the boundary for the first time in the series with a big, heaved six to finish the fourth over.
\nAfter the series-opening match was washed out, Australia won the second game before India rallied with a five-wicket win in Game 3.
\nThe Australians won the preceding ODI series 2-1 after taking the first two games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BRISBANE, Australia Shubman Gill\u2019s India squad is taking confidence out of a rain-marred 2-1 series win over Australia ahead of the Twenty20 Cricket World Cup it is co-hosting with Sri Lanka early next year. India raced to 52 without loss in 4.5 overs in Game 5 on Saturday before lightning forced players and officials off […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513524,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-513511","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n