Shubman Gill cracked his maiden Test century in India in the fourth Test against Australia in Ahmedabad on Saturday (March 11) to prove the Indian selectors right for picking him over the out of favour KL rahul. On Day 3, Gill belted a scintillating 128 off 235 and delivered just when the hosts needed him the most after the visitors piled a massive 480 on the board.
Gill became the 14th Indian opener to score a Test ton against Australia. He also became the fourth batter to clobber a century in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar series. He is also the second-youngest Indian opener to score a Test century against Australia after VVS Laxman. In reply to Australia's 480, the 23-year-old shared a 74-run opening stand with Rohit Sharma who got dismissed for 35 by left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann. He shared a 113-run partnership for the second wicket with Cheteshwar Pujara who got dismissed by Todd Murphy after scoring 42 runs.
Sundry of former cricketers and fans heaped praise on the Gill for his batting blitz in Ahmedabad. India's legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar was also one of them who talked in length about the star opener's stunning knock. He said that the opener had more time on the ball than other batters.
“He has a lot of time. When he plays a defensive shot, the way he bends forward, even against Mitchell Starc… he presents a straight face of the bat and plays a forward defence, it was so pleasing to see. It shows that he has confidence. He doesn't only play on the backfoot. His foot moves forward and he has a solid defence, not just a solid attack. And in Test cricket, you need that,” Gavaskar said.
Gavaskar also went on to say that if Gill continue to bat this way, he will go on to score 8000-10000 runs for India that too pretty comfortably.
“Shuffling back and forth against pace bowlers isn't very easy. But he picks the lines and lengths really well. Kisi bhi ballebaaz ke paas agar time ho, usne agar apne career ko sambhaala, toh aage jaake 8-10,000 run aaram se kar lega (If a batter has time, if he keeps his career in the right direction, he can easily score 8-10,000 runs in Tests),” Gavaskar concluded.
Gill has also become joint-third on the list of Indian batters with most Test centuries at the age of 23. Legendary Sachin Tendulkar had scored 22 centuries by then whereas Virat Kohli had registered 15. Also, former head coach Ravi Shastri had seven centuries to his name at the age of 23.
In the past Gill has produced some memorable knocks for India. But the one which etched in everyone's memory was in Gabba Test in 2023 where he struck a crucial 91 off 146 in India's victory.
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