Shubman Gill served an ultimatum after lean patch, faced return to domestic cricket: Report

Shubman Gill managed to overcome a lean patch on Sunday with a scintillating century against England on Day 3 of the second Test between India and England in Visakhapatnam, helping the hosts set an improbable 399-run target. Gill managed to silence his critics who had begun to question his place in the Test side, specifically at the No 3 spot that had been lying vacant since Cheteswar Pujara was dropped from the side. With 11 fours and two sixes, the Punjab batter managed to highlight the fact that he did belong to the Test team. Read | Gill pleased with century, but says India 'could have done with a few more runs' Gill, however, had been having a lean run with the bat in the Test format since scoring a century against Australia in Ahmedabad last year. From from the ICC World Test Championship final against the same team at The Oval last summer to the first Test against England in Hyderabad, Gill had collected just 173 runs across six outings at an average of 17.30. That included a two-ball duck during India’s chase of the 231-run target in Hyderabad last week. Things got to a point where the the 24-year-old had been served an ultimatum by the Indian team management to either regain form at Visakhapatnam, or risk getting benched, according to a report on The Indian Express. The report also mentioned the possibility of Gill having to head back to domestic cricket, and possibly play a match for Punjab in the ongoing Ranji Trophy before getting to play the third Test in Rajkot, which begins on 15 February. The Gujarat Titans opener had reportedly told members of his family that he would be playing the Ranji game between Punjab and Gujarat in Mohali, which gets underway on 9 February. All of that, however, would have been put to rest after Gill’s sparkling knock, which accounted for a majority of the 255 runs that India managed to collect in their second innings. Much like Yashasvi Jaiswal in the first innings, Gill put up something of a lone fight against the Englishmen, with all-rounder Axar Patel the next-highest scorer with an 84-ball 45. Gill’s ton helped India set England a target of nearly 400 that will have boosted their hopes of leveling the series before flying to the the western part of the country for the third of five Tests.