Visakhapatnam: Shubman Gill hammered his first Test century in 11 months, silencing his critics with an indispensable rescue act for India on Day 3 of the second Test here on Sunday.
Gill reached his third Test century in 132 balls with 11 boundaries and 2 sixes, helping India extend their second-inning lead beyond the 300 runs mark.
The No.3 batsman also added an unbeaten 50-run partnership with Axar Patel. The century came at the right time for India as other batsmen failed to impress in the second innings.
After James Anderson had done the damage by removing Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal, Gill walked in and immediately escaped a close leg-before call after the TV umpire overruled the on field umpire's decision due to an inside edge.
Gill was also lucky in the next over when an incoming Anderson's ball hit his knee roll, but the umpire's decision went in his favour. This only boosted his confidence and started to use his feet against the spinners, including a straight six off Shoaib Bashir was a treat to watch.
The centurion then danced down against Rehan Ahmed for a boundary and drove him through covers to reach his fifty.
Before this Test, Gill's career average had fallen below 30. His last Test century was against Australia in the Ahmedabad Test last year when he hammered 128. After that, Gill was reeling under the run drought. He had not scored a fifty in his last 12 innings against West Indies, South Africa and England.
This was the second Test hundred at home, and the one away Test ton was at Chattogram in Bangladesh during the 2022 series.
In the first hour of the post-lunch session, Gill put his head down after losing Shreyas Iyer for 29 and Rajat Patidar for 9. But, he got along with Axar Patel to launch an assault against Rehan once again.
The 24-year-old ultimately reached the three-figure mark off his 132nd ball and acknowledged the spectators with a sense of relief but without his trademark bow-down to them and his teammates in the dressing room.
This century has turned into a lifeline for Gill's career as a debate over his exclusion from the Playing XI due to an array of failures was going around.
