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Indian bowling coach Morne Morkel hailed skipper Shubman Gill after a record-breaking outing at Birmingham, saying that the batter has handled the expectations really well so far and has been "exceptional".
Gill concluded a record-breaking Birmingham Test against England with breathtaking knocks of 269 and 161 across both innings, making him the batter with the second-highest aggregate (430) of runs in a Test match after Graham Gooch (456) against India at Lord's in 1990. He also 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. Speaking after the day's play in the presser, Morne said, "Very happy for Shubham as captain on a big tour coming to England to play over here." "Big crowds, a lot of expectation on his shoulders, and I think he has handled it very well so far. He has been very confident walking around, sort of in the training, connecting well with the guys. And then as a captain and leader, you need to go in the middle and produce the goods, and I think so far he has been exceptional." "Getting the scores and now here back-to-back. So yeah, that is great for your captain if you confront that because the rest will follow. So yeah, happy for him," Morne concluded. While the first innings knock of 269 in 387 balls (with 30 fours and three sixes) was a marathon to tire out England bowlers simply, Gill pressed the accelerator in the second innings to construct a knock of 161 in 162 balls, with 13 fours and eight sixes, which was just as mesmerising. He has become only second Indian after Gavaskar to hit a double ton and century in the same Test, scoring 124 and 220 against 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 Kohli (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.' The youngster is also the third Asian batter to have a 300-plus run aggregate in a Test taking place in South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia (SENA) countries after Rahul Dravid (305) and Sachin Tendulkar (301) did that in Adelaide and Sydney, respectively in 2003-04. He is also the only third Indian captain to have a 100-plus score in both innings of the Test, besides Gavaskar (against West Indies in Kolkata, 1978), Virat (against Sri Lanka in 2017). Gill is the second player to record three hundred in his first two Tests as captain after Virat Kohli. (ANI)
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