India vs Australia: Shubman Gill becomes youngest Indian opener to score 50+ runs in fourth innings

The talented right-handed batsman slammed his second half-century in the longest format in just his third Test. The youngster played some glorious drives en route his second fifty in the longest format and garnered praise from the experts and commentators for his composed knock.

With that fifty at the Gabba, Gill (21y 133d) became the youngest Indian opening batsman to score 50+ runs in fourth innings. Previous youngest was Sunil Gavaskar (21y 243d) when he hit 67* against West Indies at Port of Spain in 1970/71 on his debut.

The youngster failed to get to his maiden Test century as he was dismissed for 91 by Nathan Lyon. Maybe the nervousness of batting in the 90s got the better of the youngster as he went for a drive and generated an edge off his bat and the ball travelled safely into the hands of Steve Smith at slip. He faced 146 deliveries in his knock of 91 runs.

Gill thus, ended as the leading run-getter in this series for India with 259 runs. However, captain Ajinkya Rahane (244*) and Cheteshwar Pujara (241*) who are into the middle can very well surpass Gill but that doesn’t demeans his effort.

Gill has clearly been the batting find for India in the Australian summer as he’s shown all the elements of a future star in the making. The maturity with which he handled the pressure and faced the likes of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon on a day five Gabba track made everyone take notice of the talent he’s been gifted with.

Together with Pujara, the 21-year-old Punjab batsman also completed a vital partnership of 50-runs for the second wicket, off 143 deliveries. Out of those 50 runs, Gill’s contribution was off 44 while Pujara scored just 6.