BIRMINGHAM: Shubman Gill became the first Indian and Asian captain to score a double hundred in a Test match in England when he reached the milestone on the second day of the second match at Edgbaston on Thursday.
The skipper also posted the highest individual score by an Indian batter on English soil, surpassing Sunil Gavaskar's 221 scored at the Oval back in 1979. The previous best was 193 by Sri Lanka's Tillakaratne Dilshan at Lord's in 2011.
Gill, who scored 147 on his debut as Test captain at Leeds, completed his maiden double hundred in the traditional format when he pulled Josh Tongue towards deep fine leg for a single.
He took 311 deliveries to reach his double hundred which earned him a place alongside MAK Pataudi, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni as captains with double hundreds for India.
Virat Kohli holds the record with seven double centuries as skipper for India.
Before Gill, the highest score by an Indian skipper in a SENA country was 192 by Mohammed Azharuddin against New Zealand in Auckland back in 1990.
Azharuddin's 179 in Manchester in 1990 was the highest score by an Indian skipper in England.
En route his double ton, Gill smashed 21 fours and two sixes and became the third Indian batter to score a double ton in Old Blighty after legendary pair of Sunil Gavaskar and Rahul Dravid.