After much speculation around his selection in the Indian playing XI, batter Shubman Gill has silenced the doubters with a sensational hundred against England on day three of the second Test match at Visakhapatnam. (Live Blog | Cricket News)
Gill got to his hundred with a single in the 52nd over off Shoaib Bashir. When India were looking down and out against English bowlers, Gill's innings brought calm and compusre to the Indian batting as him along with Axar Patel looked to battle on.
He was eventually out for 104, as he looked to play a reverse sweep to a full delivery just outside off to Bashir but ended up missing it as the ball went straight into the gloves of Ben Foakes.
But Gill had his fair bit of luck early on in the innings. He survived a close LBW call off Tom Hartley as on-field umpire gave him out but the DRS review showed a slight edge off his bat. He also survived a close catch in the slip off Joe Root in the slip. The Englishman sustained the injury during the 18th over of India’s second innings.
Coming into the Test, Gill had a poor outing with the bat. His last 12 innings were not that great with the highest score of 36 to go with. Despite having a great start to his life in the white-ball game, his Test match career hasn't been great.
In 22 Tests, Gill had accumulated 1,097 runs at an average of 29.64, including two centuries and four fifties. While his initial success in Down Under did gain attention, his recent performances have faced scrutiny.
Prior to this innings, former India coach Ravi Shastri pointed out that Cheteshwar Pujara is waiting in the wings to take the spot from Gill and Shreyas Iyer.
"It's a fresh side, a young side. These youngsters have to prove themselves. Don't forget, Pujara is waiting. He is grinding it out at the Ranji Trophy and is always in the radar," Shastri said while on commentary.
At the time of filing this article, India were leading by 348 runs.
