Nasser Hussain hails Shubman Gill’s hunger for runs in 2nd Test against England

Former England Test captain Nasser Hussain showered praise on Shubman Gill after he continued to impress in the second Test match against England at Edgbaston, Birmingham. After scoring a mammoth knock of 269 runs in the first innings, Gill scored another magnum opus knock of 161 runs in the second dig.

Thus, Gill became the first batter to score 250 and 150 in the same match and became the second Indian batter to score a double century and a hundred in the same Test match after Sunil Gavaskar. 

Gill has been leading from the front in the ongoing series as he has aggregated 585 runs in four innings at an incredible average of 146.25.

Nasser Hussain wrote for the Daily Mail, “When India arrived in England, there were two anomalies among their batting stats. The first was that KL Rahul averaged only 33, and we’ve seen how well he’s played so far. The second was Gill’s average of 35. It’s nearly 43 now – and I can only see it climbing higher. You also need hunger. If you’re an Indian Test batter and you don’t have hunger, you won’t last long.”

“Take a stroll round the maidans of Mumbai and you’ll see countless young batters with ambitions of forging a career at the highest level. In a few years, they’ll be ready to take your place. Gill has that hunger, which is why he turned his first-innings century into 269, and why he was ready to go again when he walked out to bat in the second. By way of a serious bonus, he has elegance too.”

Hussain reckons Gill can break all kinds of records in the ongoing series as he is in the form of his life.

Hussain added, “Shubman Gill said before this game that he was going to focus on his batting, and try to be the leading run-scorer in the series. And you’d have to say he’s made quite a start: his 161 in India’s second innings took his total in two games to 585. He could break all sorts of records before the series is over,” wrote Hussain (via the aforementioned source).

India has set a target of 608 runs, whereas England ended the fourth day’s play at 72-3.