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India's batting mainstay Virat Kohli had unstinting praise in store for Test captain Shubman Gill, who redefined the art of batting with a record-shattering hundred in the second innings of the second Test against England at Edgbaston.
At a venue where India is yet to register its maiden Test win, Gill led from the front following his memorable 269(387) in the first innings and then topped it up with a flamboyant 161(162) in his second turn to rescript the history books on the fourth day. Gill, who etched his name with golden words while batting at number four, earned plaudits from his predecessor, Virat, who made the position his own during his 14-year-long stint. "Well played, star boy. Rewriting history. Onwards and upwards from here. You deserve all of this," Virat wrote on Instagram. Gill's prowess reflected in the sizzling numbers he garnered throughout his endeavours on the crease. With a whopping 430 runs across both innings, Gill has the second-highest aggregate of runs in a single Test, behind England's Graham Gooch, who had an output of 456 runs after scoring 333 and 123 against India at Lord's back in 1990. Gill became the second batter to register 150-plus scores in both innings of a Test after Allan Border (150* & 153) against Pakistan in Lahore in 1980. Gill's outing is also the first instance of a 250-plus and 150-plus score in a Test by a batter. The 25-year-old is only the second Indian, after Gavaskar, to hit a double century and a century in the same Test, scoring 124 and 220 against the West Indies at Port of Spain in 1971. Other batters having achieved this feat include Australia's KD Walters, West Indies RG Lowe, Australia's Greg Chappell, England's Gooch, WI icon Lara, Sri Lanka's Sangakkara and Australia's Marnus Labuschagne. He has outdone ex-skipper and legendary batter Virat (243 and 50) to have the highest aggregate by an Indian captain in a Test match. Virat's effort came against Sri Lanka at his home stadium, Arun Jaitley Stadium, back in December 2017. Gill is the second Asian batter with 350-plus aggregate in a Test outside the subcontinent after Pakistan's Hanif Mohammad (354: 17 and 337) at Bridgetown in 1958. (ANI)
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