Shubman Gill scored back-to-back centuries as India's Test captain in the ongoing Test series against England. After his 147 runs off 227 balls in the first innings of the first Test, he is now unbeaten on 114 runs off 216 balls in the first innings of the second Test at Edgbaston.
His unbeaten ton helped finish on 310 runs for five wickets at stumps on day 1. He kept going strong with wickets falling around him. The likes of Karun Nair (31 runs off 50 balls) and Rishabh Pant (25 runs off 42 balls) could not kick on after getting starts.
Meanwhile, along with Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal (87 runs off 107 balls) also played a crucial knock before getting dismissed immediately post-lunch.
Nasser Hussain On Shubman Gill
Gill with his back-to-back centuries joined an elite list of Indian batsmen like  Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar, Mohammed Azharuddin, and Virat Kohli to achieve the rare feat of scoring a Test hundred on his first two Tests as the Indian captain.
Meanwhile, despite Gill's rich vein of form at number four, former England skipper Nasser Hussain said that he is well suited to bat at three. India have tried several players at number three since the last WTC cycle with none of them bringing much success. Sai Sudharsan batted at three in the first Test while Karun Nair in the second.
"I think some people are just like that, he looks like a natural number three," Hussain said on Sky Sports after the Indian captain's seventh Test century.
Hussain compared Gill to Joe Root who batted at three for a significant time in his Test career before moving down to number four.
"He's doing what, you know, England have done with Joe Root. I've often thought you've had lesser players than Joe Root at number three and you've had your best player at number four and he looks like a natural number three to me, Shubman Gill, but the pressure of captaincy and just also away from home when the ball has moved around, he has been found wanting a little bit, so just to come in when the ball stops moving around, but I thought he was really composed today, it was old-fashioned batting, he had to get in, grind out a score and then cash in in the last session," Hussain added.
Gill Replaced Pujara At Three, Kohli At Four
Gill succeeded Cheteshwar Pujara at number three at the start of his Test career. He has now succeeded Virat Kohli at number four. Rishabh Pant at the very start of the Test series said that Gill will bat at four while he himself at number five in the Test series against England.
