Shubman Gill maintained his scorching form with yet another century, piling on the pressure and stretching India’s massive lead in the second Test at Edgbaston in Birmingham. After losing the opening Test by five wickets at Headingley, India are determined to bounce back and level the five-match series 1-1 — and Gill’s batting masterclass has put them firmly in control.Amid Gill’s dominant knock, a lighthearted exchange between the Indian skipper and England batter Harry Brook added a touch of humour to the tense contest.Here’s how the conversation unfolded:Harry Brook: “Not 450 declared? Shubman, you know it’s raining tomorrow. Half day. Afternoon. It’s raining.”Shubman Gill: “Bad luck for us.”Harry Brook: “Take the draw.”Shubman became just the third Indian skipper to score centuries in both innings of a Test match, joining the legendary Sunil Gavaskar (vs West Indies, Kolkata, 1978) and Virat Kohli (vs Australia, Adelaide, 2014).
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How important is Shubman Gill’s form for India’s success in the series?
What makes Gill’s feat even more remarkable is the magnitude of his contribution — a stunning 269 in the first innings followed by a fluent century in the second.
With this, he also became only the ninth batter in Test history to register a double hundred and a century in the same Test match. For India, only Gavaskar had achieved this rare feat before, during the famous 1971 series against the West Indies in Port of Spain.Gill is now also the second Indian after Kohli to score three centuries in his first two Tests as captain. Kohli had achieved this during his captaincy debut in 2014-15, and now Gill has matched that feat with centuries at Headingley and a twin-ton masterclass at Edgbaston. Only two players in Test history — Kohli and Gill — have managed this rare feat of three hundreds in their first two matches as Test captain.In addition, Gill joins an exclusive group of players — including Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar, Greg Chappell, and Steven Smith — who have scored two centuries in their first two Tests as skipper.
