Shubman Gill joins elite list spearheaded by Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli after Vizag Test ton

Shubman Gill has finally responded to all the critics and criticism around his lean run of form as a number 3 batsman for India’s Test side with an emphatic knock of 104 off 147 deliveries in the 3rd innings of the 2nd Test against England here in Vishakhapatnam’s ACA-VDCA stadium. With that, he has joined an elite list of Indian cricketers scoring the most number of centuries at the age of 24. Notably, Gill has become just the third Indian player to hit 10 international cricket centuries at the age of 24.

The elusive list is spearheaded by legendary Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar and his heir Virat Kohli. Tendulkar holds the record of most centuries as a 24-year-old and his tally of 30 centuries is way above Kohli’s total of 21 tons. Shubman Gill with his first Test hundred against the visiting Three Lions, overtook Virender Sehwag who had 9 centuries to his name across formats.

Gill smacked his 10th ton earlier today and finds himself 3rd on the list as he reached this landmark at the age of 24 years and 149 days. He will need another 11 centuries to match Kohli, and 21 more to emulate Tendulkar but he has a very limited time frame to do so, as much as 7 months before he turns 25 on September 8.

Before this ton, Shubman Gill was level with some legendary former cricketers like Sehwag, Ravi Shastri, and Yuvraj Singh. Gill’s last international hundred had come against Australia last year in an ODI series that began right before the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.

He could have toppled Sehwag from the 3rd spot during the CWC itself had he converted his 93-run knock against Sri Lanka in the group stages and 80-run knock against New Zealand in the semi-finals at Wankhede. But nonetheless, the Indian team management will breathe a sigh of relief with Gill’s solid inning which could also prove to be a match-saving one.

The Fazilka-born batter led from the front on day 3 and batted with caution as well as aggression. He used soft hands while approaching the ball instead of hard ones, the same technique that led to his continuous and unfortunate dismissals after getting to good starts.

Shubman Gill Throws His Wicket To Shoaib Bashir While Playing Unnecessary Reverse Sweep

By the looks of Shubman Gill’s confident intent out in the middle, it was looking as if he would match Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 1st innings masterclass, which saw him register his maiden Test double hundred in what was just his 2nd Test match on home soil.

However, it kind of seemed like Gill threw his wicket himself while trying to play an unnecessary reverse sweep shot off Shoaib Bashir. The 24-year-old could not judge the ball’s length and closed his bat way too early before the ball struck his gloves and tossed up in the air for Ben Foakes to complete a simple catch.

Shubman Gill was doing better off without the reverse sweep and he should not have tried to bring further innovation into his batting, especially at a juncture he is in at the moment. But one thing’s for sure that all of his past mistakes will be forgiven for now and the criticism he shrugged off today, might restart if he rolls back to his purple patch in the 3rd Test at Rajkot.