Gill reflects on the hard-fought draw at Manchester and highlights his and Rahul’s partnership as the key.
‘The partnership Rahul and I had ignited the spark’ – Gill savours Manchester draw.
With the visitors still in the running to share the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, India skipper Shubman Gill has praised his team’s valiant effort to secure a draw going into the third Test at The Oval.
Gill and KL Rahul combined for 188 for the third wicket, placing Gill at the vanguard of India’s battle. More significantly, the pair batted for almost 70 overs when India was down 311 after losing B Sai Sudharsan and Yashasvi Jaiswal in the opening over.
“From 0 for 2, then the partnership KL bhai and I had, I think that ignited [the spark] yes, we can achieve this task”, Gill told BCCI.tv. “Extremely happy. To be able to get a draw from the position we were in yesterday is extremely satisfying. This innings of mine was the most pleasing to me.”
Gill reached his fourth century of the series, tying Sunil Gavaskar and Don Bradman for the most centuries in an English series. Gill’s series total now stands at 722, 52 runs short of Gavaskar’s record for the most runs in an Indian series.
While Rahul scored a generally sluggish 90, his fourth fifty-run or higher score of the series, he also lifted his series total to 511, marking the first time he has scored 500 runs or more in a series.
After falling for 103 in the second session when wafting at a Jofra Archer ball, Gill was similarly eloquent in his compliments of the composure displayed by Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja. With Shardul Thakur, three lower-order batsmen, and an injured Rishabh Pant still to come, India was still 91 runs adrift at 222 for 4, having lost both set batsmen.
Jadeja persevered and scored his fifth fifty-plus score in six innings. He displayed courage in his fifth Test century, which he elevated with a six in the final hour after England was eager to shake hands for the draw. Joe Root dropped the first ball off Archer at first slip, but Jadeja continued to bat without any more alarms to stay undefeated at 107.
Washington also mentioned his century, which was his first in Test cricket. His prior best was 96 against England in 2021. In Pant’s absence, Washington, who started the series as No. 8, was promoted to No. 5. When both teams finally shook for the draw, their partnership was worth an unbeaten 203 for the fifth wicket.
“When Jaddu bhai and Washy were batting, it wasn’t easy,” Gill observed. “The ball was doing something, but the way they calmly batted and got Test centuries from there tells you how big of an achievement it is.”