India captain Shubman Gill is currently in exceptional form with the bat to say the least. The 25-year-old has already scored close to 600 runs in the first two Tests of the five-match series against England. He has also already hit three centuries and will be looking to increase the tally further as the series progresses.
Gill has completely dominated against England's bowling attack
After playing a sensational knock of 147 in the first Test, Gill also played a crucial role in India's massive 336-run victory over England at Edgbaston. The batter recorded scores of 269 and 161 in the first and second innings respectively as the Men in Blue set up a mammoth target of 608 for England. The hosts would get bundled out for just 271 runs on Day 5 as the Indian team recorded their first-ever victory at the venue in Birmingham.
Legendary India cricketer Sachin Tendulkar was also highly impressed with Gill's batting in the first two Tests against England. Tendulkar remarked that the young India captain has remained calm and composed in the first two matches. He further stated that the 25-year-old has batted brilliantly so far and has been nothing short of 'special' for the Indian team.
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“He's been good. He's very calm and composed. I strongly believe in how the rest of the 10 players react to what he is doing and the decisions he is making, which have been measured decisions, very thought of. And his batting is complementing that as well, because if a captain is in good form, it makes a huge difference in the decision-making. You need to be in the right frame of mind to make those important calls. He's been batting brilliantly. As an opposition, you normally look for the weak areas in the batting and technique, but he has been batting remarkably and has been special,” Tendulkar said on Star Sports.
Meanwhile, both India and England made one change each to their respective playing XIs for the third Test. While the Men in Blue brought in Jasprit Bumrah for Prasidh Krishna, the Three Lions replaced Josh Tongue with Jofra Archer. It was England captain Ben Stokes, who won the toss at Lord's and he made the decision to bat first.
England finshed the first session of Day 1 on 83/2 with Ollie Pope unbeaten on 12 and Joe Root batting on 24. Openers Zak Crawley (18) and Ben Duckett (23) were the ones who lost their wickets during the session and surprisingly, it was Nitish Kumar Reddy who picked up both the scalps. It will be interesting to see whch team manages to gain the upper hand by the end of the first day.