Shubman Gill Joins These Veteran Indians After 100 vs Bangladesh In 2nd Innings

Coming into the first of the two-match Test series against Bangladesh at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, the number three batter for the Indian Test side, Shubman Gill, was under real pressure on the back of his poor form. Even though he showed some great touch with the bat in the home red-ball series against England towards the start of the year, the overall record of round 35 average wasn’t decent.

It went from bad to worse when Shubman Gill got a faint edge while playing the leg-sided ball from Hasan Mahmud in the first innings of the game. The head went down, and he failed to get the full bat in trying to hit the boundary.

The pressure mounted over Gill, as the selectors feel concerned before their three-match red-ball series at home against New Zealand before the upcoming Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25, where the team will need to get the best of the services from him.

Shubman Gill equals VVS Laxman and Sunil Gavaskar on this record

When the Punjab-born walked into the middle during the second innings of India late in the day, they just lost their captain Rohit Sharma, and saw the back of Yashasvi Jaiswal. They also went on to lose the wicket of Virat Kohli at the eleventh hour of the day. At that point, it was vital for India to stitch a partnership.

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Shubman Gill looked in supreme touch on the third day as he played some incredible backfoot punches around the wicket, besides cutting the ball on the square, showing how quickly he could adjust the line and length of the bowler for his shot.

The youngster went on to put up a 167-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Rishabh Pant, who celebrated his sixth century in the format, equaling MS Dhoni to have the most centuries for India in this format as a designated wicket-keeper of the side.

Even though most of the runs for Pant came in boundaries, as he looked to be in aggressive mode for most of the day, the technique of Shubman Gill not only put confidence in his belief but also made sure that the selectors could take a backseat while selecting his name for the Kanpur game in the second Test.

He ended with an unbeaten 119 runs with the help of ten boundaries and four sixes in the second innings, as it is now the third-highest individual score for a number three batter for India against Bangladesh in a five-day format, under two knocks of 129 and 160 by the former head coach of the side, Rahul Dravid.

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Shubman Gill also joins the two former greats of Indian cricket, VVS Laxman and Sunil Gavaskar, with the most fifty-plus scores in the second innings of a Test. He also carries the fourth most runs (256) against Bangladesh in the second innings of a Test under Mayank Agarwal (257), Cheteshwar Pujara (295) and Sachin Tendulkar (456).

The vice-captain of the white-ball format of the Indian team will now try to carry the same form in the upcoming second Test and the rest of the home season.