India Captain Shubman Gill said India still have areas to work on in ODIs despite a series win against West Indies. He added, in particular, about their fielding and death bowling as concerns ahead of next year’s World Cup as well.

“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,” Shubman Gill said at the presentation “One-day[ers] 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 definitely we need to be better at.”

Team India were without Jasprit Bumrah (Asian Games duty) and Hardik Pandya (injured) in this series, and they don’t have plenty of games till the 2027 World Cup. Coach Gautam Gambhir made a mention of this, and the selection of the XIs seemed to show the team’s desire to find options as much as win matches as well.

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“Decently pleased [with the progress],” Gill said as he assessed the team’s performance in the three matches. “But I think there are still some areas [of improvement] – 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.”

However, Gill was “happy” with the total he had on the board, but he also admitted that West Indies were able to chase, with India being penalised for a slow over rate following the 46th over as well. They had to bowl the final few deliveries with just four fielders on the fence and not the usual five players as well.

“I think the game was in control,” Gill said. “But you know, being behind four overs with this and then in the last, I think they took the game away from us. Had we, you know, not been short on the overs, I think the game might have gone to the last over.”

“I mean, you’re always disappointed whenever you get out early, but I think today I don’t think there could have been much that I would have done on that ball,” Shubman Gill concluded.