Birmingham, July 5 (IANS) Former India captain Virat Kohli has hailed current India captain Shubman Gill for his brilliant batting during the second Test against England as he followed up his double hundred in the first innings with a century in the second.

Gill hit a majestic 161 off 162 deliveries to help India declare their second innings at 427/6 in 83 overs at the Edgbaston here on Saturday. The 25-year-old Gill had earlier in the week struck a majestic 269 in the first innings.

“Well played, star boy. Rewriting history. Onwards and upwards from here. You deserve all of this,” said Kohli in his Instagram story, which was accompanied by a photograph of Gill celebrating his century on Saturday. Kohli has announced his retirement from Test cricket ahead of India’s tour of England. He quit Test cricket a few days after Rohit Sharma did.

Gill had started the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series with a sublime 147 in the first innings of the first Test at Headingley in Leeds. However, India had slumped to a five-wicket defeat despite Gill’s century. Rishabh Pant made hundreds in both innings of the match, while besides Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal and K.L. Rahul reached the three-figure scores in Leeds.

On Saturday, Gill, yet again, stepped up with his elegant strokeplay to hit 13 fours and eight sixes in what was his eighth Test hundred, fifth against England, and third one in his fourth innings as India’s Test captain. With an aggregate of 430 runs, Gill has become the second-highest run-scorer in a single Test match after England’s Graham Gooch (456 runs) and is also the first player to score 200 and 150 in the same Test match.

He was ably supported by fifties from KL Rahul (55), Rishabh Pant (65), and Ravindra Jadeja (69 not out) to give England a very stiff run chase of 608 runs to win the second Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series.

–IANS

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