Over in Sri Lanka, the Second Test gets underway in the early hours of Sunday morning, and India start it as strong favourites. But away from the main market, there’s a good opportunity to back Shubman Gill to top score for his team at decent odds, so all eyes are on the India skipper ahead of this one.
- Starts: Sunday, August 23, 04:30
- Venue: Colombo (SSC), Sri Lanka
- TV Channel: TNT Sports/Sony Sports Network
Betting Tip: Gill to Lead by Example
Sri Lanka gave hot favourites India a serious scare last week in the First Test, with bad weather interrupting the match and a gusty performance from Sri Lanka combining to create periods of frustration for India. Sure, India won in the end as their pre-match odds suggested they would, but they had to work hard for the win, only getting over the line on the fifth and final day.
In the middle of all that, India skipper Shubman Gill had a quiet game by his standards with the bat, managing only 16 runs in the first innings and 8 in the second, while Devdutt Padikkal scored a huge 167 in the first innings followed by a 44 in the second innings, and all of Rishab Pant, KL Rahul and Dhruv Jurel passed fifty across the match.
But one swallow doesn’t make a summer, and Gill could be about to go big. For starters, he’s the highest-ranked Indian batsman in the match at number 7 of the ICC Test Rankings, though Jaiswal (90 and Pant (13) aren’t too far behind him.
- Bet: Back Shubman Gill to be India's first-innings top batsman
- Odds: 5.0 (at the time of writing)
What More Is There?
Speaking of Jaiswal, he’s the only batter currently with a higher Test average than Gill’s. Jaiswal is at 48.75, whereas Gil is just a bit worse off at 43.66, with Pant hot on his heels at 43.37, and no one else on the side has an average above 40.
But batting at four arguably gives Gill an edge, as he's protected from the new ball, and you can’t keep a player of his class quiet, so this could be his turn to top score in the first innings at a decent-looking 5.0.
Top Stat: When Shubman Gill scored 754 runs in a Test Series against England last year, it was the second-most amount of runs by a captain in just one Series, second only to the great Donald Bradman, who hit 810 back in 1936.
Did You Know?
Shubman Gill belongs to the exclusive club of players who have scored an international century in each of the three formats: Tests, ODIs and T20Is.
