India vs England: Shubman Gill breaks half-century drought in Visakhapatnam

India batter Shubman Gill ended his half-century drought on Day 3 of the second Test against England in Visakhapatnam on Sunday. Batting at No. 3 position as Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal occupy the openers slots, the right-hander remained unbeaten on 60 runs at lunch.

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Gill collected his first fifty-plus score at No. 3 slot having earlier scored a best of 47 runs against New Zealand in December 2021. Ever since the emergence of Jaiswal, Gill has dropped down the batting order.

Having started slowly and nervously, Gill would be relieved to have collected a half-century score. His previous highest was a 128 run knock against Australia in March 2023.

In the period since, he could only muster a best of 36 runs vs South Africa in Cape Town earlier this year. He was averaging 18.18 since that century against the Aussies in Ahmedabad.

Gill started cautiously and survived two close calls. On the first, there was a lbw call off Tom Hartley with the TV umpiring overturning the on-field decision after spotting an inside edge that the batter himself was not sure about.

In the next over, an incoming ball from James Anderson thudded into Gill’s knee roll and on this occasion umpire’s call saved him.

Having weathered this storm, the 24-year-old started to get into the groove of things. Having reached an unbeaten 60, he would be keen to make a big score as India took a 273 run lead into the break.

Gill was joined by Axar Patel on 2 at the interval. Earlier in the day, India lost Jaiswal (17), Rohit (13), Shreyas Iyer (29) and Rajat Patidar (9) with Anderson taking two wickets while Rehan Ahmed and Tom Hartley took one-wicket each.