This year, the biggest series for Team India is going to be the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. In this series, India will play a 5-match Test series against Australia in their home. This tour of Australia is going to be very important for India because the Indian batsmen will be tested on a bouncy pitch. In Test cricket, batting in the second innings has always been more difficult than the first innings. It will be even more challenging on Australian soil. However, this will not be such a tension for India now. Actually, a young batsman of the Indian team is consistently performing brilliantly in the second innings of the Test match. This batsman is none other than Shubman Gill. Gill could not even open his account in the first innings of the Chennai Test but he scored a brilliant century in the second innings.
Gill has an excellent record
Gill scored the fifth Test century of his Test career. He scored an unbeaten 119 runs off 176 balls with the help of 10 fours and four sixes. Gill’s innings came at a time when the Indian team lost its 3 wickets for just 67 runs in the second innings. Gill’s taking his team out of difficult situations and reaching a big score before the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is a relief news.
Looking at the way Gill has batted in the second innings of the last few Test matches, he is now being called a specialist of the second innings of Tests. Statistics also clearly testify to this. This 25-year-old young batsman is scoring runs at an impressive average of 79.66 while batting at number three in the second innings of Test matches. Gill has so far scored 478 runs with two centuries in 9 innings while playing at number 3 in the third or fourth innings of a Test match. Overall, his average in the second innings of Tests has been 51.
India gave a big target
It is worth noting that India declared their second innings at 287 for four on Saturday, the third day of the first Test, and set Bangladesh a target of 515 runs. Rishabh Pant scored 109 and Shubman Gill scored an unbeaten 119 for the Indian team, which played ahead of its yesterday’s score of 81 for three wickets. Pant, who returned to Test cricket after a car accident in December 2022, completed his sixth Test century in just 124 balls. He also equaled Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s record for most Test centuries by an Indian wicketkeeper. Pant scored 109 runs which included 13 fours and four sixes. Earlier, the Bangladesh team was all out for 149 runs in the first innings on the second day.
(Input- PTI)