On Tuesday, a second-string India team defeated West Indies by a score of 200 runs in the third one-day international. This win gave India a timely boost in front of their campaign in the Asia Cup, which will begin in one month.
The visit of the West Indies great Brian “Lara” Lara to the young Indian cricketers while they were in training helped to further elevate everyone’s spirits. At the Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad, the “Prince of Trinidad” faced the likes of in-form openers Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan. Kishan hammered his third consecutive fifty of the series while Gill hit 85 as they created a 143-run opening partnership to build the platform for a huge total, 351-5.
Lara agreed that India’s ranks included an impressively deep pool of potential.
“It means the world to me to have these two young men, Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill, representing the academy or the stadium in my name,” he said.
“…Just to see the talent here with this Indian team and so many different teams that they have at the moment, they can pick a second eleven and even a third eleven,” Lara added. “…Just to see the talent here with this Indian team and so many different teams that they have at the moment.”
An awestruck individual Gill did not pass up the chance to inform Lara about his influence on the current generation of hitters and did so immediately.
“You [Lara] used to be one of those people who used to go and straightaway, from ball one, you would take on the bowlers and take on the challenge, and that really inspired us as kids to be able to… how to dominate the game in all formats,” added Gill. “You [Lara] used to be one of those people who used to be one of those people who used to go and straightaway, from ball one, you would take on the bowlers and take on the challenge.”