Gill hit new heights in scoring 269 and 161 to set up a crushing victory by 336 runs
\n NEW DELHI
\nNew captain Shubman Gill was hailed on Monday for leading from the front after India recorded their maiden Test win at Edgbaston to level the series against England 1-1.
\nGill, who notched a century in a losing cause in the first Test at Headingley, hit new heights in scoring 269 and 161 to set up a crushing victory by 336 runs which leaves the five-match series finely poised.
\nIt was India\u2019s first win in nine Tests at the Birmingham venue, following seven previous defeats and one draw.
\n\u201cNew captain, new India\u201d, The Indian Express newspaper splashed across its front page.
\nGill, 25, became the youngest Indian Test skipper to register an overseas win in just his second match in charge following the retirement of Rohit Sharma.
\nHe eclipsed Sunil Gavaskar, who was 26 when he led India to victory over New Zealand at Auckland in 1976.
\nGill came into the series with concerns over his batting average overseas, which had been less than 30, but he has shut down all the noise by stroking a remarkable 585 runs from four innings.
\nCricket icon Sachin Tendulkar called it a \u201cShublime innings from the man of the moment,\u201d offering his congratulations for \u201cpowering India to a brilliant Test victory.\u201d
\nTendulkar, writing on social media, added: \u201cIndia\u2019s approach was to take England out of this game and force them to play differently, making sure that there would only be one winner.\u201d
\n\u2018Drowning Street\u2019
\nFast bowler Akash Deep took a match haul of 10 wickets after replacing the rested Jasprit Bumrah as England were bowled out for 271 in their chase of 608 on day five.
\n\u201cWhat impressed me most about the bowlers was the length they bowled\u201d, Tendulkar said.
\nDeep took 6-99 in the second innings, including bowling the world\u2019s top-ranked Test batsman Joe Root with a delivery that nipped away sharply and was called the \u201cball of the series\u201d by Tendulkar.
\nBatting great Virat Kohli, who also retired before the series, said: \u201cGreat victory for India at Edgbaston\u201d and wrote that India had been \u201cfearless and kept pushing England to the wall.\u201d
\n\u201cBrilliantly led by Shubman with the bat and in the field… special mention to (Mohammed) Siraj and Akash for the way they bowled,\u201d he added.
\nFormer captain Sourav Ganguly praised Gill\u2019s performance and India\u2019s superior bowling attack, calling Akash and Siraj \u201cworkhorses\u201d.
\nIndian newspapers had a field day with an outpouring of joyous puns.
\nThe Times of India said: \u201cDeep\u2019s 10 send Eng to Drowning Street\u201d and \u201cEdg-bastian breached.\u201d
\nThe third Test of the five-match series begins on Thursday at Lord\u2019s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gill hit new heights in scoring 269 and 161 to set up a crushing victory by 336 runs NEW DELHI New captain Shubman Gill was hailed on Monday for leading from the front after India recorded their maiden Test win at Edgbaston to level the series against England 1-1. Gill, who notched a century in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488912,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-488884","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n