Skipper Shubman Gill led from the front and produced knocks of 269 and 161 to script India’s historic 336-run victory over England in the second Test at Edgbaston, Birmingham.
With his stunning exploits, Gill broke a plethora of records, becoming the first Asian captain to score a double ton in a Test match in England. He also set a new record for highest score by an Indian batter in a Test innings in England, going past the 221 scored by Sunil Gavaskar in 1979.
Moreover, the 25-year-old broke record for most runs in debut series as India captain, surpassing Kohli who had amassed 449 runs against Australia in 2014/15 when he took over the charge from MS Dhoni.
Gill has already aggregated 585 runs in just two matches of the ongoing series. He stands just 18 runs short of becoming the most prolific Indian batter on the tour of England, with Rahul Dravid leading the chart, having scored 602 runs in the 2002 series.
Ahead of the third Test at Lord’s, legendary off-spinner R Ashwin heaped praise on Shubman Gill, saying that latter isn’t putting on a show and looks completely in control of what he’s doing.
“Shubman has a natural flair," Ashwin said on his YouTube channel. “I was watching his press conference, and I immediately saw that he is not putting on a show. He is talking like who he is. He is leading the team per his natural skills and thinking. It’s visually very evident."
“Don’t take it out of context, but a lot of players are coached about what to say and what to do. That doesn’t seem to be the case with Shubman Gill. He looks like a man who is doing what he believes in and a lot of people coaching you, putting thoughts in your head might not help in bringing out your natural self. Shubman Gill looks completely in control and is enjoying himself," he added.
Shubman Gill's tenure as the Indian Test captain begun with a five-wicket defeat against England at Headingley in Leeds.
Gill, who was handed the Test captaincy after Rohit Sharma’s retirement in May, slammed a brilliant hundred in his maiden assignment. While he managed to pass the batting test, the loss at Headingley kept him under the scanner.
Gill’s captaincy was labelled as defensive by many, while some experts felt that he lacked authority in his first match as skipper.
Speaking on the same line, Ashwin suggested that overseas media often targets the visiting captain because it eventually impacts the entire team.
“In overseas tours, the overseas media target the captain because if you bring the captain down, it becomes easy to bring the team down," Ashwin said. “You can get them to fall like nine pins if you go after the captain. So that’s why captain in good form and command of the team is very important."
“Unfortunately, the English media tried (to target Gill). Honestly, we were also skeptical but in two matches he has answered everybody with aplomb. England have missed a trick by playing on these pitches and giving runs aplenty to the Indian batters. Now it’s Shubman Gill’s series to really conquer," he added.
