Srinagar: Superstar Cricketer Virat Kohli has made first cricket related reaction after announcing retirement from Test Cricket, hailing Shubman Gill for his Edgbaston Test heroics.
Kohli, who since winning the IPL trophy with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, has been out of public sight. Barring a couple of videos of him on the streets of London, there wasn’t much news about him. Yes, he did invite some members of the Indian cricket team to his home but remained hidden from public space.
Kohli broke his silence, thanks to Gill’s performance in the ongoing Edgbaston Test against England. The India captain, who scored 430 runs in total in the second Test of the five-match series to help the visitors take a commanding position against England, carried on from where he left off in the first innings. He had scored 269 runs, the most runs by an Indian batter in the UK, and in the second innings, built on it by adding another 161 runs off 162 balls to help India set England a target of 608.
Kohli shared a picture of Gill on Instagram stories, dubbing the India Test captain “star boy”. “Well played, star boy. Rewriting history. Onwards and upwards from here. You deserve all of this,” Kohli wrote.
Heading into the series against England, the pressure was firmly on Gill. He had no centuries in SENA countries, and besides, Gill had the task of leading the side in transition without Rohit Sharma, Kohli, and Ravichandran Ashwin following their Test retirements. To pile further pressure, Gill had the task of batting at a position that Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar immortalised. Batting at No.4 was huge.
However, Gill made his intentions clear from the series opener, smashing 147 runs in the first innings of the Headingley Test. However, the ton went in vain as India lost after England chased down more than 370 runs.
Gill played a loose shot in the first innings of the Headingley Test but learnt his lesson as he went long in the Edgbaston game, scoring 269 runs in the first innings and helping India post 587.
The right-handed batter then ensured India did not squander the advantage of gaining a 180-run lead as he scored 161 runs in the second innings. As a result of this effort, he now has the second most runs in a single Test, only behind Graham Gooch.