Former England pacer Stuart Broad sparked discussions and debates on social media after he snubbed India captain Shubman Gill for Joe Root in his combined India-England Test XI after the conclusion of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. While Gill racked up his fourth century of the series in the Oval Test, England talisman Root notched up his 39th Test hundred in a thrilling fourth-innings chase where his team would eventually fall seven runs short of the series win.
Gill smashed a heap of records in his maiden Test series as his average zoomed past the 40s after beginning the series at 35-ish average.
“You want me to choose between Root and Gill? I can see the headlines now,” said Broad, after Buttler’s question on their For the Love of Cricket podcast.
“Shubman Gill has just scored the most runs as a Test captain behind Don Bradman in a series, and Joe Root has gone second on the all-time list, scoring 3 centuries back to back and scored his 39th Test ton,” Broad added.
When pushed to spill one name for the slot, Broad leaned towards picking his former teammate.
“Well, only because I’ve got Joe Root’s mobile number and don’t want the abuse, so I’m gonna go Joe Root,” said Broad.
“Unbelievable. I can’t believe that,” replied Buttler.
Gill’s series tally of 754 runs stands as the second-highest total by any captain in a single series in Test cricket history. It is only behind Don Bradman’s haul of 810 against England in 1936-37. The 25-year-old’s four hundreds were also the joint-best by a Test captain, alongside Bradman and Sunil Gavaskar.
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Meanwhile, Root closed the gap between him and the legendary Sachin Tendulkar on the Test batting charts as he finished the series with 534 runs in five Tests. Root surpassed the likes of Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting in terms of Test runs across the last two Tests while his 39th century propelled him to the fourth spot. Only 2,378 runs separate the 34-year-old from Tendulkar’s record 15,921 runs in the format.
Curiously, as he snubbed Gill, Broad ended up picking six Indian players in his XI from the series, including openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul, wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant, all-rounder Washington Sundar and pacers Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah.
Broad’s India-England combined Test XI
Yashasvi Jaiswal
KL Rahul
Ollie Pope
Joe Root
Harry Brook
Ben Stokes (C)
Rishabh Pant
Washington Sundar
Jofra Archer
Jasprit Bumrah
Mohammed Siraj
