Captain Shubman Gill led the Indian team to a fantastic four-wicket win against New Zealand in the first ODI at the BCA Stadium in Vadodara on Sunday, January 11. He looked much more proactive on the field compared to when he was leading the team in Australia last year. Later, the right-handed batter scored an important half-century, setting the foundation for the Men in Blue to chase down a 301-run target in 49 overs with four wickets to spare.  

Indian fast bowler Harshit Rana, who bagged a couple of wickets on Sunday, explained what Shubman Gill is like as a captain. According to the Delhi seamer, Shubman is a "free and aggressive captain". Rana mentioned that the Firozpur-born allows his players the freedom to express themselves on the field.

"He is a free and aggressive captain. If he has to take a decision, he thinks beforehand that he has to do that thing and then he doesn’t stress about it. I personally like that thing, to be a free captain is to give freedom to players to do what they want to do on the field. That is one of the best qualities I like about him!" Rana said during the post-match press conference.

Indian pacers Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, and Rana bagged two wickets apiece on Sunday to restrict New Zealand to 300/8 on a decent batting track. Daryl Mitchell top-scored for the Kiwis with a 71-ball 84.

In reply, India lost the wicket of Rohit Sharma in the ninth over before Shubman and Virat Kohli stitched a decisive 118-run stand. The former scored 56 off 71 balls before being dismissed by Adithya Ashok. Kohli fell short of his 54th ODI century by just seven runs.

Shreyas Iyer played an important knock of 49 runs off 47 deliveries before KL Rahul took the team home with an unbeaten 21-ball 29.

The action will now shift to Rajkot, where the two teams will lock horns in the second ODI at the Niranjan Shah Stadium on Wednesday, January 14.