India Test skipper Shubman Gill reached a career-best position of six in the latest ICC Test Rankings for batters. The stylish right-hander jumped a staggering 15 places to break into the top 10 after his heroics in Edgbaston, which saw him score a double ton and a daddy hundred (269 and 161). He is now only 79 rating points behind the leader.
With Root at second, New Zealand’s Kane Williamson takes the third spot while Gill’s India teammate Yashasvi Jaiswal is at fourth and Steve Smith completes the top five.
For the unversed, Shubman Gill also shattered a host of records with the double century against England. The young Indian Test captain surpassed batting stalwart Virat Kohli’s previous record of 254 to have the highest individual score by an Indian captain in the longest format. His innings also set a new benchmark for the highest score by an Indian batter in Tests played outside Asia, eclipsing Sachin Tendulkar’s unbeaten 241* at the SCG in 2004.
Gill’s remarkable knock now stands as the third-highest individual score by an Indian in overseas Tests, behind only Virender Sehwag’s 309 in Multan and Rahul Dravid’s 270 in Rawalpindi.
Before Gill, only two Indian batters had scored double-centuries in Tests on English soil – Sunil Gavaskar with 221 in 1979 and Rahul Dravid with 217 in 2002. Furthermore, Gill’s innings is also now the seventh-highest individual score by an Indian in Test history.
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On the other hand, England batting stalwart Joe Root had to relinquish the top spot to fellow teammate Harry Brook in the ICC Rankings. The England white-ball captain reclaimed the apex spot following a magnificent knock of 158 in the first innings of the second Test against India in Birmingham. Root has now dropped back to the second position with 18 fewer rating points behind his more junior teammate.
Another Three Lions youngster who impressed in the second Test against India was their wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith. With scores of unbeaten 184* and 88, Smith improved 16 places to take the 10th spot in a new career-high ranking.
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