Our Bureau
London
Starting his captaincy tenure, Indian Red-ball Captain Shubman Gill has been on a hot spree smashing batting records in the Anderson Tendulkar Trophy. As the fourth test in Manchester comes closer, Gill will be targeting a 19-year-old record set by legendary Pakistani batsman, Mohammad Yousuf of the most runs scored by an Asian batter in a Test series in England.
Shubman Gill shocked everyone, smashing a mammoth 430 runs in the second test at Edgbaston as he scored 269 in the first innings and 161 in the second innings of the match. So far, Gill has averaged 101.16 and despite a below par third test he has scored 607 runs in the first three matches. He is just 24 runs behind Yousuf who currently holds the record of most runs by an Asian batsman in a series in England with 631 runs in 4 matches at an average of 90.14, including the highest score of 202, during Pakistan’s 2006 tour of England.
In the third match at the Lord’s Cricket Ground, he moved past Rahul Dravid becoming the leading run scorer for India in a series in England. But the Indian captain faced heavy criticism for failing to score much at the ‘Home of Cricket’ and losing the test match.
With the loss, India currently is on the backfoot trailing the series 2-1 to England and will have to win both their matches going forward to win the series. The Indian team has had some new additions to their squad because of the injuries in their camp.
Nitish Kumar Reddy who bowled some good spells and took crucial wickets has suffered an injury on his left knee and has been ruled out for the series. In his place, Anshul Kamboj has joined the Indian camp in Manchester. Arshdeep Singh has also been declared unfit for the fourth test but will be monitored by the support staff.
