Captain gets massive “legend” praise

Former Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik heaped praise on Test captain Shubman Gill after his knock on Day 4 of ENG vs IND 2nd Test. The number four batter became the only second Indian after Sunil Gavaskar to score a double century and a hundred in a single Test. Karthik compared Gill to Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli, noting that he was not just playing a crucial role with the bat but as a captain too.

Gill compared to Sachin, Kohli

Speaking on Sky Sports, Karthik pointed out that there had been a lot of talk about the need for Gill to score runs in overseas. He said until this series, the Indian captain wasn’t able to back that with stats, but things had changed after just two games. Gill already has 3 hundreds in four innings in the ongoing Test series against England.

“Giving him captaincy was something that was talked about a lot. The one thing that always was spoken about was Shubman Gill needs to get runs away from India. He’s got the talent, but the statistics so far didn’t quite back that. This series has been everything he needed. He’s walking into hallowed turf. Batting at number four – you had legends over decades: Tendulkar and then Kohli. Today, it is Shubman Gill” Karthik said.

Karthik lavished praise on Gill for filling in the big shoes of Kohli effectively and taking over the reins of the team from Rohit Sharma and said that it was the best thing for India in this series.

“Those are big shoes to fill, and the way he’s walked in and taken charge along with captaincy has been the best part of this series from an Indian standpoint,” Karthik added.