India's 'price' Shubman Gill finally pushed the critics off his back, scoring his third Test century on Day 3 of the second Test against England in Vizag. Gill, who had been in the line of fire owing to repeated poor shows with the bat, rode his luck at early stages to reach the triple-digit score. As Gill scored a century, the legendary Sachin Tendulkar took to Twiter to share a brilliant praise for the top-order batter.
"This innings by Shubman Gill was full of skill! Congratulations on a well timed 100!," Tendulkar tweeted.
Gill overcame a lean patch to score a fine hundred as India reached 227 for six at tea on day three of the second Test against England to extend their lead to 370 runs here on Sunday. India made 97 runs in the session courtesy an 89-run stand between Gill (104 off 147) and Axar Patel (45 off 84).
R Ashwin (1 batting) was playing alongside home crowd favourite K S Bharat (6 batting) at the break.
There aren't any demons in the pitch and considering England's batting approach, India would want to bat for as long as possible and set a massive target for the visitors.
Gill stole the show with a third Test hundred but Axar also looked assured batting at number six. A back-foot punch followed by a cover drive off James Anderson at the start of the session set the tone for his innings.
Gill, who had completed his half century before lunch, continued to attack the spinners.
Leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed tried the round the wicket tactic but it did not work as Gill stepped out to smash him for a straight six before unleashing the sweep and on-drive for back to back fours in the same over.
The India number three got to three figures off Bashir in the 52nd over and his celebration was rather a muted one, as if he expected a lot more consistency out of himself. He had completed his first 50 plus score in 13 innings.
With PTI inputs