Well Played, Star Boy: Virat Kohli Hails Shubman Gill After His Record-Breaking Centuries In 2nd Test Against England-OxBig News Network

Former India captain Virat Kohli on Saturday hailed Shubman Gill for his brilliant performance with the bat in the ongoing second Test against England at Edgbaston, Birmingham. 

After scoring 268 runs in the first innings of the second Test, Gill followed it up with a knock of 161 runs to script history and break multiple records. With this, the 25-year-old Gill became the ninth batter to score 200-plus and 100-plus scores in the same match in Test cricket history.

“Well played, star boy. Rewriting history. Onwards and upwards from here. You deserve all of this,” wrote Kohli in his Instagram story, which was accompanied by a picture of Gill celebrating his century. 

Notably, Shubman is batting at No. 4 spot in the ongoing Test series against England, a position where Gill used to bat before taking his retirement in the longest format of the game, earlier this year. 

Gill, who was appointed as India’s Test skipper ahead of the England tour, had started the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series with a sublime 147 in the first innings of the first Test at Headingley in Leeds. 

However, India had suffered a five-wicket defeat despite Gill’s century. Rishabh Pant made hundreds in both innings of the match, while besides Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal and K.L. Rahul reached the three-figure scores in Leeds. 

On Saturday, Gill, yet again, stepped up with his elegant strokeplay to hit 13 fours and eight sixes in what was his eighth Test hundred, fifth against England, and third one in his fourth innings as India’s Test captain. 

With a total of 430 runs, Gill has become the second-highest run-scorer in a single Test match after England’s Graham Gooch (456 runs) and is also the first player to score 200 and 150 in the same Test match.

He was well supported by fifties from KL Rahul (55), Rishabh Pant (65), and Ravindra Jadeja (69 not out) to give England a very big target of 608 runs to win the second Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series. 

In reply, Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj reduced England to 72 for three at the end of play on Day 4 in the second Test in Edgbaston, Birmingham. England need another 536 runs on the final day to maintain their 1-0 lead in the five-Test series for the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.