Regardless of what the result will be of the first series for the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, what seems set in stone is that Shubman Gill’s performance with the bat is set to go down in history as one of the greatest performances by an Indian batter in overseas conditions. The 25-year-old has scored 722 runs this far in eight innings with four centuries. The fact that this comes in a series in which he made his debut as India’s Test captain makes it even more special.
However, former wicketkeeper batter Parthiv Patel has warned that for now, Gill would probably be subjected to criticism if he fails to fire in the fifth Test at the Oval which starts on Thursday. “Everyone would want him to maintain the kind of form he has shown,” said Parthiv on Star Sports. “There were a lot of questions raised earlier in this series — about his struggles in overseas conditions, where he wasn’t getting runs or converting starts. But he has answered all those questions brilliantly. Hopefully, he continues this momentum.”
Parthiv pointed out the fact that negative murmurs had come around Gill’s abilities even after he scored a two centuries and a double centuries in his first four innings of the series. Gill marked his debut innings as Test captain with a masterful 147 in the first innings of the first Test. He then scored 269 and 161 in an incredible feat of batsmanship in the second Test that broke a plethora of records. This, however, was followed by scores of 16, 6 and 12 in the subsequent innings before his 103 off 238 helped India avoid defeat in the fourth Test.
“Even before this fifth test match, people were talking, and that too after he had already scored 600 runs in the series. One bad Test at Lord’s, and questions started coming up again. So, I really hope Shubman Gill delivers another big contribution in this crucial final Test,” said Patel.
Gill is the first Test captain to record four centuries in an away series. Don Bradman and Sunil Gavaskar are the only other captains to record four tons in a series. Jacques Kallis, Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Joe Root and Mohammed Yousuf the only other batters to record the feat in the 21st century. He has also smashed Rahul Dravid’s record for most runs scored by an Indian in a Test series in England.
