India’s young skipper Shubman Gill hardly put a foot wrong as he boldly orchestrated a dominant and famous win at Birmingham, leading by example and slaying records with his epic knocks of 269 and 161
India skipper Shubman Gill celebrates his 200 vs England at Edgbaston, Birmingham, last Thursday. Pic/Getty Images
In time to come, this Edgbaston epic will be immortalised as Gill’s Test. India’s young captain — in age and in leadership experience — hardly put a foot wrong, everything he touched turning to gold as he orchestrated a famous, famous win.
India had dominated four of the five days in Leeds, but it was England who prised the door open with a powerhouse batting performance on Day Five to conjure a five-wicket triumph. Gill was livid with himself, for throwing his hand away despite making a career-best 147 in the first innings. He made a vow:
‘No more loose strokes, no more squandering the advantage away’.
Playing XI under scrutiny
It’s one thing to say so, quite another to walk the talk, particularly given the immense scrutiny of the XI he chose to put out in the second Test, his side 0-1 down in the five-match showdown. Popular opinion cried out for the inclusion of Kuldeep Yadav’s wrist-spin in the absence of the rested Jasprit Bumrah, but Gill placed his eggs in the batting depth basket, plumping for Washington Sundar instead of Sai Sudharsan, the left-handed batter who debuted in the opening encounter. It was seen as a defensive, self-defeating move, but Washington aced the test, helping his skipper add 144 in the first innings and then accounting for Ben Stokes at a crucial stage in the second when time seemed to be India’s greatest bugbear.
It was on the field, however, that Gill sparkled the brightest. Slaying a slew of records on his way to monumental efforts of 269 and 161, he had the fans eating out of his hands. The connoisseurs oohed and aahed but there was enough for the new-age fan who must have enjoyed his 162-ball masterpiece in the second dig when the sixes flowed unchecked. With 430 runs for the game, Gill catapulted into the record books for the second-most runs in a Test, second only to Graham Gooch’s 456 (against India). How could he not have won over the dressing room, which is pretty much what every individual in a team sport aspires for?
The 25-year-old in his second game in charge hardly spent time off the field, holding the first catch in the England first innings and the last in the second to give Akash Deep his 10th wicket of the match and India their biggest margin of victory by runs (336) in an away Test. What more can one man do?
Thoughtful leader
“Especially when you are the captain, you need to lead by example, so that whenever there is another player in that situation, you can command that player, this is what the team require right now,” Gill provided a window to his thinking. “You always have to put the team first, rather than your personal
desires. If you put the team ahead of you, you will always walk in the right direction, on the right path. That’s what I wanted to do — if a good ball gets me out, it gets me out. But as long as I am there, I want to play as long as possible.”
Not music to Stokes’s ears, certainly?
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