India’s newly appointed captain, Shubman Gill, has only been the recipient of high praise for his recent performances with the bat in England.
He has dominated largely with a double-hundred in the first innings and followed it with another 150+ score in the second innings of the game.
This was the first time since former Indian great Sunil Gavaskar that an Indian batter has scored a double-hundred as well as a hundred across the two innings of the Birmingham test.
After India decided to declare the innings during the second innings of the Birmingham test, Shubman Gill was seen calling the players back from the dressing room while he donned a black Nike vest.
This has certainly caught the attention of several fans as well as social media fanatics, as India is sponsored by Adidas. Hence, Gill openly sports the Nike vest, and Adidas might issue a notice to the BCCI condemning this action based on the violation of the sponsor code.
Shubman Gill’s offence against the Sponsor code
India declared posting a huge 600+ target at Edgbaston
India posted a huge total in the first innings itself, with Gill being the pick of the batters with a huge 587-run innings. This was followed by a fortunate rise of the Indian bowlers, who picked early wickets against England.
India reduced England to 82/5, which was followed by a 300-run partnership between Jamie Smith and Harry Brook that took England to a huge 407. India took a lead of 180 runs in the first innings of play and further added crucial runs in the second innings as well.
Indian opener KL Rahul gave India a start; however, Gill was once again the one who caught attention for his splendid innings of 161, with a strike rate of almost 100.
Rishabh Pant scored quick runs at the top, and then Jadeja followed as India scored 427/6 when they declared, setting a huge target of 608 for England.
Shubman Gill’s record partnership with Ravindra Jadeja
Shubman Gill now has the most runs scored by an Indian batter in the first two tests, and this is the second-highest aggregate by a batter. Shubman Gill now has 585 runs in the first two tests against England, only behind South African great Graeme Smith’s 621 against England in 2003.
Gill also now has the most runs scored in the first two tests as skipper, beating Virat Kohli’s previous record of 449.
Shubman Gill and Ravindra Jadeja’s pair is the first to form a record partnership of 200+ total in the first innings, and is followed by another hundred-run partnership in the second innings. They are now also among the nine Indian pairs with two century partnerships in Test matches.