Cricket fraternity in awe of Jaiswal, Gill's rollicking display

India Gazette

2 days ago

New Delhi [India], July 3 (ANI): India's rising sensations Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal earned plaudits from legendary batter Sachin Tendulkar, former all-rounders Irfan Pathan, Mohammad Kaif and other stars, following their swashbuckling exploits on the opening day of the second Test against England in Birmingham.
Familiar scenes unfolded for India after the coin spin in favour of England captain Ben Stokes, who put the tourists to bat just like the series opener at Headingley. India made a small tweak with Jaiswal, and KL Rahul continued to open with Karun Nair promoted to the number three spot to replace dropped Sai Sudharsan.
England threatened by making early inroads with Rahul (2) chopping the ball back into his stumps. Karun Nair (31) made a narrow escape early on after scrapping his way out of an lbw call, but failed to capitalise on it and returned to the dressing room moments before lunch at Edgbaston.
Jaiswal and Test captain Gill tantalised England's bowling unit, bereft of experience. Jaiswal coruscated with a rollicking 87(107) while Gill continued to dazzle after walloping a swashbuckling century and stayed unbeaten on 114(216) at the end of day's play, propelling India to 310/5 despite a minor collapse after tea.
'@ybj_19 set the tone from ball one. He was positive, fearless and smartly aggressive. @ShubmanGill was cool as ever, calm under pressure, solid in defence and in total control. Classy knocks from both. Well played, boys!' Sachin wrote on X.
For Kaif, 'world-class,' Gill's flamboyant display at number four particularly stood out, which makes him believe that the 25-year-old will continue the great tradition that comes with the spot, which Sachin and Virat previously held.
'Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli and now Shubman Gill... India is always blessed to have a solid world class batsman at No. 4. Maybe this continue forever. Gill continuing a great tradition,' Kaif wrote on X.
Irfan doesn't have any doubt that Jaiswal and Gill will be the torchbearers of the young Indian team and wrote on X, 'I have no doubt in my mind two batters from this young Indian team will take test team forward. YASHASVI JAISWAL & SHUBMAN GILL.'
Former India batter Wasim Jaffer is pleased that the captaincy pressure hasn't caught up to Gill and wrote on X, 'Being India's number 4 and Test captain comes with a different pressure altogether. Really good to see it has not affected his batting one bit, in fact it's elevated it. Well played @ShubmanGill #ENGvIND.'
Yuvraj Singh, who has served as Gill's mentor, saw his prodigy become one of the few to hammer consecutive centuries after becoming Test captain.
'When responsibility calls, some rise and some soar! @ShubmanGill just became one of the rare few to score consecutive hundreds as Test captain! A calm head, a bold bat and a hunger to lead by example @GraemeSmith49 would be proud of the company!' Yuvraj wrote on X.
After Jaiswal's return to the dugout, vice-captain Rishabh Pant (25) tried to forge a comeback but lofted it into the English skipper's hands. Nitish Kumar Reddy, on his debut in England, returned cheaply 1(6) after Chris Woakes breached his stance and rattled the timber.
Gill joined hands with Ravindra Jadeja and raised an unbeaten 99-run partnership to push England back against the wall. (ANI)