India vs New Zealand: 'I strive for consistency,' says Shubman Gill

India batsman Shubman Gill has said being consistent is something that he "strives" for.

Gill on Wednesday became the fastest Indian batsman to reach the 1,000-run mark in the One-Day Internationals (ODIs). He clinched the milestone in just 21 innings. Gill became the fourth Indian batsman to score an ODI double after Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, and Ishan Kishan.

He scored a double century during the first ODI between India and New Zealand in Hyderabad, which the hosts won by 12 runs.

The 23-year-old batsman struck nine sixes and 19 fours en route to his third century in the ODIs.

"In the first ODI against Sri Lanka and in the third ODI, I was set. I was looking to get a big score. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Once I was set here, the main focus for me was to be there for the team and score as many runs as possible. It feels good when it pays off.

"Consistency is the key to everything. It's one of the things that I strive for. Being consistent as a batsman is very important in any format. It feels nice when you are doing things over a period of time repeatedly," said Gill in an interview.

When Gill was on the non-striker's end, Hardik Pandya lost his wicket in controversial circumstances. Whille looking to tuck down the fine-leg, the all-rounder missed the ball and appeared to have clipped the wicket, but BlackCaps wicketkeeper Tom Latham's gloves were very close to the wickets.

Many felt that the ball rebounded off Latham's gloves onto the stumps. Nevertheless, the third umpire looked at the replay, he adjudged Hardik bowled but Gill does not agree with that decision.

"As a non-striker batsman, I didn't think that the ball hit the stumps, even when I was watching the replay. Sometimes there's a blind spot - you can't really tell what happened. I thought with the bail falling towards the crease, it's a bit weird if the ball is hitting like that and the bail falling towards the crease.

"These bails are different. It's a heavy bail and the stumps are a bit different. But, at the end of the day, you have to go with the third umpire and respect his decision," added Gill.

Hardik and Gill put up 74 runs for the fifth wicket. Even though India kept losing wickets on one end, Gill never felt he needed to do anything different.

"Did not really think about accelerating when wickets were falling from the other end, was not trying to do anything different. One thing is that, when wickets are continuously falling, it will be easier for the bowler to bowl dot balls because he is not under pressure. The bowler should feel that the batter is showing intent, looking for boundaries," Gill said.

After Gill's 208, the next best batsman for Team India on Wednesday was Captain Rohit Sharma, who scored 34 off 38 deliveries. The Men in Blue set a target of 350 for BlackCaps, who were reduced to 131 for 6 in the 29th over. While the game looked to be done and dusted, New Zealand's Michael Bracewell had other ideas. He went on a rampage, hitting 10 sixes and 12 fours in his knock of 140 off 78 balls. Bowling all-rounder Mitchell Santner scored 57 runs and put up 162 runs for the seventh wicket.

However, India held on to their nerve to pull off a 12-run victory to help them go 1-0 up in the three-match series.

IND vs NZ: Rohit Sharma praises Gill, Siraj

After the game ended in Hyderabad, Rohit heaped praise on Gill, saying the young batsman is doing "really well."

"To be honest, the way he (Bracewell) was batting and the way it came on to the bat nicely, it was clean ball-striking. We knew that if we bowled well, we would be okay unless we really slipped up with the ball. Unfortunately, that's what happened. I did say at the toss that I'd like to see us challenge ourselves, not quite the situation I expected but that's how it is," said Rohit at the post-match presentation.

"He (Gill) is going really well. The form he was in, we wanted to make use of it and that's why we backed him in the SL series. Free-flowing batter and it's quite exciting to watch. Siraj has been brilliant, not just in this game but in the red-ball, T20 format and now ODIs. Really good to see what he does with the ball. Executing what he wants to do and he is very clear about his plans. Which is how it should be," the Indian skipper added.

The second ODI between India and New Zealand is on Saturday at Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium, Raipur.