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Atherton taunts Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli after Shubman Gill's 269-run Edgbaston marathon: 'Neither of those two…'
Shubman Gill became the first Indian captain to score a double century in England. Atherton noted that neither Sachin Tendulkar nor Virat Kohli managed this.
Former England captain Michael Atherton took a cheeky dig at Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli after Shubman Gill became the first Indian captain to hit a double century in England. Gill, only in his second Test as captain, broke multiple records on his way to a marathon 269-run knock - the highest by an Indian on English soil and also the highest by an Indian captain anywhere in Test cricket. This came after Gill, on Day 1 of the second Test, joined an elite list of Indian captains to hit consecutive centuries in the first two matches of his leadership journey. On his captaincy debut, Gill hit 147 in Headingley.
While raving about Gill's masterclass of an innings, which is also the first instance of an Asian captain hitting a double century in SENA countries, Atherton said there was a lot of pressure on the right-hander who was not only starting his captaincy journey but also taking over the No.4 spot made famous by Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli.
Gill's unimpressive overseas record - he averaged 31 on away tests before the start of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy - had made matters more difficult for the 25-year-old in the lead-up to the five-match series. But Gill proved the doubters wrong in grand style.
Shikhar Dhawan speaks to HT
On Day 2 of the second test in Birmingham, he did something that Tendulkar and Kohli could not achieve in their illustrious Test careers. Atherton said Gill may have stepped into the gigantic shoes of Tendulkar and Kohli, but neither of them can boast of a double hundred in England like him.
"Shubman Gill at No.4 is filling in the big shoes... Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar's slots but neither of those two has made a double century in England," Atherton said on commentary.
Incidentally, Kohli's highest Test score of 149 in England also came at Edgbaston in 2018. Tendulkar, on the other hand, came very close to hitting a double century in England in 2002 in the third Test at Headingley but was dismissed for 193.
Gill's innings broke another big record of Virat Kohli. The current India captain now has the highest score by an Indian captain in Test cricket, surpassing Kohli's 254 against South Africa at Pune in 2019. It also replaced Tendulkar's 241 against Australia at Sydney as the highest score by an Indian batsman in a Test outside Asia.
It also topped Gavaskar's celebrated 221 at the Oval in 1979 as the largest score by an Indian batsman in a Test in England.
"I worked on a few things before the series as well, that I thought might be important for me going into Test cricket," Gill, who made 147 at Headingley, told Sky Sports.
"Looking at the results, they are working for me," added Gill, who was equally delighted by India's much-improved fielding.
"Fielding was definitely one of those things we spoke about as a team, and it's great to see that come off so far," said Gill.
