Besides showering plaudits on his run-making spree, the English media has also flagged a few captaincy blunders of Shubman Gill, while anointing him a perfect No 4 after Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar.
Here’s what the media said:
‘Joins the Smiths, Graeme & Steveon 700+ runs in series’
BBC wrote:
‘Gill now has 722 runs in this series with four centuries.
Only Graeme and Steve Smith, of South Africa and Australia, have scored more than 700 runs in a series against England in the UK this century.
Protea Smith was another young captain when he dominated the summer of 2003. His run-haul set him on the way to being one of the great leaders of the modern era, but he already looked a grizzled leader when taking the reins at 22.
Gill, in contrast, is softly spoken.
Where his first captain Kohli held court with an aura the size of his social media following, Gill answers questions with a disarming smile.’
‘Sunil Gavaskar’s all-time record of 774 in any series firmly in Gill’s sights”
Sky Sports wrote:
‘The Indian captain’s remarkable series lives on, Gill averaging 90.25 and with his tally for the four Tests now standing at 722, a new high mark for an Indian batter in a Test series against England – and with Sunil Gavaskar’s all-time record of 774 in any series firmly in his sights as we head to The Oval.
A brilliant Stokes delivery did for him cheaply in the first innings, out lbw without offering a shot as the England skipper got one to jag back in sharply to the right-hander, while a rather more innocuous Archer delivery proved his undoing second time round, ending a magnificent rearguard of 103 off 238 deliveries that helped inspire India’s series-saving draw.’
‘Continuing the great lineage of Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar’
Guardian wrote:
“Gill has had a peculiar summer, extraordinary batting feats to go with the stresses of his new (captaincy) role. With his hundred, he joined Don Bradman and Sunil Gavaskar, the only other two captains to hit four tons in a series. Gill is the first to do so away from home. He began this series with the reputation of a white-ball virtuoso still waiting to master the red. He will head to its conclusion with more records in danger, confirmation that he belongs at No 4, continuing the great lineage. Before him, Virat Kohli, before him, Sachin.
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His side have been particularly muddled in this Test. They welcomed back the No 3 dropped after the first Test and, once again, favoured a struggling seamer over the brilliance of Kuldeep Yadav, a wrist-spinner whose continued absence has hurt not only India but the spectacle of this series, too. Gill waited an age to introduce the drift of Washington Sundar in England’s first innings, a wasted opportunity after the off-spinner’s excellence at Lord’s. This is still a side trying to work it all out after the departure of giants, Kohli to go with Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin in retirement.’
