India skipper Shubman Gill ended the ongoing England Test tour with an aggregate of 754 runs across five matches, narrowly missing out on legendary Sunil Gavaskar's tally for the most runs by an Indian batter in a Test series.
Gill came into the series-decider at The Oval 52 runs behind Gavaskar, who had famously amassed 774 runs as a 21-year-old in his debut series, comprising four matches, against the West Indies in 1970-71.
However, Gill endured twin failures at The Oval, returning with scores of 21 and 11, to fall short of Gavaskar's all-time record.
Gill may have narrowly missed out on breaking one of the most iconic batting records in Indian cricket, but he earned something just as memorable.
After the third day’s play at The Oval, Gavaskar, who has been part of the broadcast team, walked up to the Indian captain and presented him with personal memorabilia. The 76-year-old also encouraged the young batter to aim for the record in future series.
"I have got a gift for you in anticipation of you going past (me). At least you got something to aim for in the next series. It is just a little gift. It is a shirt with SG initials, someone made it for me, I am giving this to you, but I don't know if it will fit you. This is a cap which I give to very few people with my signature. All the best," Gavaskar said in a video shared by Sony Sports on social media.
Here's the video:
Coming to the Oval Test, India’s pace attack, led by Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna, sparked a stunning turnaround after England got off to a blazing start, with Ben Duckett (43 off 38) and Zak Crawley (64 off 57) adding 92 runs (77 balls) for the opening wicket in reply to India’s first innings score of 224.
Both Siraj and Krishna picked up four wickets each as the tourists conceded only a slender lead of 23 runs.
Riding on Yashasvi Jaiswal’s hundred (118) and half-centuries from Akash Deep (66), Ravindra Jadeja (53) and Washington Sundar (53), India posted 396/10 in their second innings, setting a target of 374 for England.
The Three Lions ended the third day at 50/1, needing another 324 runs to pull off a series-clinching victory. India, on the other hand, require 8 more wickets to level the series at The Oval.
