In the second India vs. England Test in Edgbaston, which concluded on Sunday, Shubman Gill gave it his all. As the Indian cricket team defeated England by 336 runs for the first time at the venue, the India captain hammered 269 and 161, the most runs by an India captain in a Test.
Naturally cheerful after the victory, Gill even made fun of a reporter who had brought up India's losing record at the stadium before the game.
Gill was eager to see the same reporter who had brought up the sour statistics in front of him at the pre-match news conference when he came to the press conference after making history.
"I can't see my favorite journalist. Where is he? I wanted to see him," Gill said, trolling the journalist during the media conference.
"I even said before the Test match that I don't really believe in history and stats. Over the last 56 years or so, we've played nine matches - different teams have come here. I believe we are the best team to have come here to England, and we have the capability to beat them, to win the series from here. If we keep making the right decisions and keep fighting, I think it would be one of the series to remember," he further said.
Now the said journalist, BBC's Joe Wilson, has spoken up after being at the receiving end of Gill calling him out.
"What the captain said, very sensibly, was that if you look back to the 1960s, 1970s, even 1980s, let's say, there was a different feel to the Indian team when they traveled abroad. There was no expectation from them to win. Now, they do expect to win. So, maybe that was just statistics, in terms of history. Maybe, it was a motivation. Because we lost count of the records that Shubman himself and India broke. How to get Shubman out that would be the no. 1," Joe Wilson, BBC's cricket correspondent, said on RevSportz.
????Breaking & Exclusive????
— RevSportz Global (@RevSportzGlobal) July 8, 2025
Shubman Gill's 'favourite' journalist speaks out: "It motivated him"@debasissen @ThumsUpOfficial #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/etFzSN0P6M
When asked if he would make a similar comment to Shubman ahead of the third Test too, Wilson replied: "I would say anything to motivate him, maybe who knows. I think he is a real gentleman. He answers every question with great dignity. We love to talk about statistics, don't we. It was fun."
The third India vs England Test starts at Lord's on Thursday.
