London: Even as the Test series between England and India is shaping up into a classic, one man is stamping his authority in the most emphatic manner.
It’s none other than Shubman Gill, whose hunger for runs seems to have grown manifold since taking over the mantle of captaincy.
England bowlers have had no clue on how to stop the Indian skipper as the elegant right-hander followed up a record-busting 269 in the first innings with a stroke-filled, history-creating 161 in India’s second essay on Day 4 of the second Test at Edgbaston in Birmingham.
KL Rahul (55), Rishabh Pant (65) and Ravindra Jadeja (69*) helped themselves to half-centuries as India piled up 427/6 in the second innings to set England a massively improbable winning target of 608.
In the 80 minutes of batting England had in their second innings on the fourth evening, the home team’s top order crumbled again. Mohammed Siraj dismissed Zak Crawley for a seven-ball duck, and Akashdeep accounted for Ben Duckett (25) and Joe Root (6) to reduce England to 72/3 at stumps on Saturday.
Siraj and Akashdeep put their hands up in Jasprit Bumrah’s absence in this Test, raising visions of a series-equalling victory on the final day.
GILL ON RECORD-BREAKING SPREE
But Saturday was all about India’s young captain.
Like in the first innings, Gill lorded the English bowling attack and produced yet another dazzling knock with hardly any flaw. And once again, records went tumbling as the runs flowed from the stylish Gill’s bat.
* His aggregate of 430 runs stands just behind Graham Gooch, who had amassed 456 against India, 25 years ago. Gill is only the fifth batter in nearly 150 years of Test cricket to score 400 runs or more in a single Test.
* When Gill reached 76, he surpassed the great Sunil Gavaskar’s 54-year-old record of most runs (344) in Test match.
* Gill became the first batter in Test history to smash a double century and 150-plus in a Test.
* Gill is the ninth batter in the world to hit a double hundred and a century in the same Test, and the second Indian (after Gavaskar).
* Gill is the second batter to make two 150-plus scores in a Test, after Allan Border (150* and 153 vs Pakistan in 1980).
* Gill has amassed 585 runs in two Tests of this series — second-highest aggregate in the first two matches of a series, behind Graeme Smith’s 621 in England in 2003.
* Gill has the highest tally in the first two Tests of a series as captain, bettering Virat Kohli’s 449 runs.
* Gill is the third Indian captain with hundreds in both innings of a Test – following in the footsteps of Gavaskar (107 & 182* vs Windies in 1978) and Virat Kohli (115 & 141 vs Australia in 2014).
