'Thank You Shubman Gill': Kevin Pietersen's Bold Call to Back Under-fire Indian Youngster Pays Off

Shubman Gill who was under fire for his poor form with the bat, managed to redeem himself with a brilliant century against England on Day 3 of the second Test at Hyderabad. Former England batter, Kevin Pietersen had previously backed Gill to come back strong and was pleased after the young star managed to put up a good show to put India in front.

Both Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer were being criticised for their poor show with the bat and their lack of runs leading to questions regarding their spot in the playing eleven. While Iyer is yet to get the big runs, Shubman Gill has managed to solidify his position among the starters.

The English batting legend had previously cited the example of the South African legend, Jacques Kallis who did not have the best of starts in his Test career. In his tweet, Pietersen mentioned,” Kallis averaged 22 in his first 10 Tests and turned out to be arguably the greatest player to play the game. Give Shubman Gill

time to find it, please. He’s a serious player!” However, this comparison led to fans criticising the Englishman for his comparison to an all-time Test great.

READ MORE: Shubman Gill Rides His Luck for a Confidence-Boosting Century 

Following Gill’s century, Pietersen’s decision to back Gill turned out to be the right call as he went on to take the game against the English side by scoring some crucial runs to extend their lead so that the hosts are in contention of getting the victory and levelling the five-match Test series.

Gill had been struggling to get any significant total on the board ever since he shifted down to the number three in the batting order. His century knock, marks his first big score at three. He was eventually dismissed by Shoaib Bashir playing a reverse sweep but misjudged the bounce as the ball nicked his gloves and went to the keeper to take the catch.

READ MORE: IND vs ENG, 2nd Test Day 3: Shubman Gill Back Among Runs with 3rd Test Hundred, India Extend Lead to 370 at Tea 

In the absence of Virat Kohli, who had opted out of the first two tests citing ‘personal reasons,’ the next generation of players led the side with the bat. Yashasvi Jaiswal managed to score a career-best score of 209 in the first innings while Gill managed to score 104 in the second innings. India will be aiming to get the victory in Hyderabad as they require the win to level the series with three more matches to go in the five-match affair.