"These are two pillars of the Indian batting line-up" - Ravi Shastri's massive praise after Day 1 of ENG vs IND 2025 2nd Test

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri heaped massive praise on Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal after the opening day of the second Test against England. The second Test began on Wednesday, July 2, and is being played at Edgbaston, Birmingham.

Opening the batting, Jaiswal scored a brilliant 87 runs off 107 balls, with 13 fours in his knock. Talking on Sky Sports, Ravi Shastri lauded Jaiswal, stating that he is someone who will not miss out while batting on good tracks such as those in this series so far.

"Very hungry. You can see at the start of his innings. When someone gets that many runs against a particular attack, he starts from scratch innings by innings. That tour of Australia did him a world of good. He's twice the player now as he comes to England. Hard tour, some spicy tracks (Australia), here some very good tracks and he is not going to miss out. He's come up the hard way. He doesn't forget it. He's grateful for that and he is ambitious. He wants to go out there and play the big innings," he said. (6:01)

Shastri also praised Shubman Gill, who scored another hundred on the opening day and remained unbeaten on 114. He went on to add that Jaiswal and Gill are the pillars of Indian batting over the next decade.

"These are two pillars of the Indian batting line-up - Gill and Jaiswal, over the next decade."

Shastri, in his praise for Gill, hailed him for concentrating on his batting and taking responsibility as a captain while at the crease.

"He just cut off everything around him. He just focused on his batting. Trusted his defense. I think he's learnt a lot in the last year or so. Knows what's required in England and his defense was first-class. He makes it look so easy. So easy on the eye. What was good to see was he was never in a hurry. He was very calm, composed, played at his own pace even when wickets were falling around him. As a captain as well, if you can take that responsibility, absorb pressure, and then get back-to-back hundreds in England, I think it's a great achievement," he opined. (2:35)

India ended the opening day in a strong position, getting to 310/5 after being asked to bat first by England. They will be keen to put up a big first-innings total as they resume their innings on the second day.

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Nasser Hussain lauds India captain for his performance on Day 1

In the same conversation, former England captain Nasser Hussain lauded India skipper Shubman Gill for the way he batted on the opening day. Hussain believes that having to bat first twice in the series so far has helped Gill by letting him focus on his batting alone.

"One thing about Indian batters who come over to England, they have a really good technique. He's got a very good technique (Gill). He's a very elegant player. I think it has helped him as a captain twice now, batting first. I think twice he's just had to concentrate on batting. Nothing else really. He may have had the issue of Bumrah in the last couple of days. The press and how to handle that. That might have been on his mind," he reflected. (3:32)

With a hundred in the opening Test followed by another one in the second, Gill became only the fourth Indian to score hundreds in his first two Tests as captain of the team.