Shubman Gill might have fallen 20 runs short of Sunil Gavaskar’s record for most runs in a Test series by an Indian cricketer, but that doesn’t take away any credit from the current captain, opined the legend himself. With three hundreds and a double hundred in the series against England, Gill finished the series with 754 runs in 10 innings to his kitty, falling short of Gavaskar’s 774 runs against West Indies in the seventies.

Such impressed was Gavaskar, who is a part of the commentary panel in the series, the 76-year-old also presented Gill with a small gift after the latter was dismissed on the third day of the fifth Test during India’s second innings. Gavaskar gifted Gill a autographed cap and a jersey, with ‘SG’ initials on them which are interestingly same for both.

Gavaskar said Gill that he had readied hid gift in anticipation of the record being broken. With his performance, Gill can certainly be compared with Gavaskar for greatness but the former India captain explained what makes the 25-year-old special.

“When I scored those runs, I was the baby of the team as there was no responsibility on me. But look at Shubman. He had all the eyes on him and expectations were high since he was leading the Indian Test team for the first time. Despite all the pressures, the way he batted in England, he has won every hearts,” Gavaskar told Sony Sports.

“He may not have gone past 774 runs but nevertheless he scored 754 runs, that with a huge responsibility of being a captain. Don’t go by those 20 runs, just see what those 754 runs have done for Indian cricket,” added Gavaskar, who was the first to score 10000 Test runs.

What led Sunil Gavaskar gift Shubman Gill?

Gavaskar also explained why he chose to gift Gill for his outstanding batting. “I have learnt this thing from my captain Ajit Wadhekar. When he was the captain, I had smashed a century in Barbados helping India draw the Test match. Following that hundred, Wadhekar gifted his bat to me, which was absolutely new.

“After that when I became the Indian captain, I also used to gift my teammates something for good performances. Yesterday, I brought a gift for Shubman in anticipation that he needs only 40 runs to get past me. Although he fell short of my 774 runs by 20 runs, but from the bottom of my heart, I wanted to gift him,” added Gavaskar.