Virat Kohli lavished praise on Shubman Gill for his 269 and 161 in the ongoing Edgbaston Test against England.
Gill has embraced his new batting position at No.4, previously occupied by Kohli, since taking over India’s Test captaincy. He announced his leadership in style, hammering a 227-ball 147 in his first innings as captain at Headingley.
With India trailing 0-1, Gill became the team’s batting cornerstone yet again at Edgbaston – piling on a career-best 269 in the first innings and backing it up with a second-innings century (161) to set England a mammoth 608-run target.
Shubman Gill needs 17 runs in three Tests to become the highest run-scorer for India in a Test series in England 😲#ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/8I2YMZHi9T
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) July 5, 2025
On day four at Edgbaston, Gill smashed 161 off 162 balls, becoming India’s highest run-scorer in a single Test match (430 runs), breaking Sunil Gavaskar’s 54-year-old record (344 vs West Indies, Port of Spain, 1971). The recently-retired Kohli lauded his successor at No 4.
"Well played star boy," Kohli praised Gill in an Instagram story. "Rewriting history. Onwards and upwards from here. You deserve all of this."
Gill made his international debut in a 2019 ODI against New Zealand as an injury replacement for then-captain Kohli. Despite modest scores of 9 and 7 in his first two matches, his talent impressed Kohli, who touted him as "future batting superstar".
"I saw him bat in the nets and I was like 'Wow! I was not even 10% of that when I was 19," Kohli said. "That’s the confidence that they carry and it is great for Indian cricket if the standard keeps going up and the guys coming in can make impact performances straight away."
India have always been blessed with great batters. After Sachin Tendulkar, Kohli took the baton as the next batting superstar. Following Kohli’s Test retirement, all eyes turned to Gill, though his record in the format was patchy, averaging just 35.05 in his first 32 Tests. However, the average leapt from 36.57 to 42.92 during the current Test, offering India promising signs.
Follow Wisden for all England vs India updates, including live scores, latest news, team lineups, schedule and more. The live streaming details for the ENG vs IND series in India, UK, USA and rest of the world can be found here. For Wisden quizzes, head here.
