'Where's my favourite journalist?': Shubman Gill takes playful jibe at reporter after Edgbaston win, watch

In the Edgbaston Test against England, Team India achieved a historic feat, defeating the hosts for the first time ever at the venue. The team faced skepticism, as none of Gill's prman Gilledecessors had managed to beat England in Birmingham. With the management's decision to exclude Jasprit Bumrah from the game, questions arose about the team's intent before the second match of the series. An English journalist had highlighted India's poor record at Edgbaston, noting that the team had never won a single game there.

As Gill entered the press conference after making history, he looked for the same journalist who had pointed out the unfavorable stats during the pre-match press meet.

What exactly Shubman Gill said during the press confrence?

"I can't see my favourite journalist. Where is he? I wanted to see him," Gill said, trolling the journalist during the media conference.

"I even said before the Test match that I don't really believe in history and stats. Over the last 56 years or so, we've played nine matches - different teams have come here. I believe we are the best team to have come here in England, and we have the capability to beat them, to win the series from here. If we keep making the right decisions and keep fighting, I think it would be one of the series to remember," he further said.

India delivered one of their most commanding away Test performances. Gill led the charge with scores of 269 and 161, displaying batting maturity. He received strong support from Ravindra Jadeja and Rishabh Pant, who played vital roles in India's accumulation of over 1,000 runs across the two innings.

July 6, 2025

The bowling unit performed well in Bumrah's absence. When the fast-bowling star was rested for Birmingham, many experts dismissed India's chances. Notably, India had lost the Leeds Test despite Bumrah being in the XI.

During the press conference, Gill also emphasised that dealing with an older, softer ball during 30 to 80 overs is extremely important, especially when wickets are flat.

"The most important thing that becomes for us as a fielding or as a bowling unit is how do we stop those runs? Because we would get that second new ball. And it would be relatively easier to get wickets with the harder ball or with the second new ball," he said.

He reflected on his team's misfired short-ball tactic during England's first innings when they had the hosts 84/5, due to which Prasidh Krishna leaked so many runs."

That was part of my plan because I wanted, if we would have gotten one wicket there, their tale would have started. And I think that gave them a little bit of momentum as well. But we were so ahead in the game that I could afford to take that risk. But in the sending, we spoke about, even if we are getting wickets consistently, we will still try to make them play in the areas where it is difficult to score or where it's difficult to hit," he said.

"That is why we came a little bit closer to the stumps, where on a fifth-day wicket, the ball might go up and down. And the first spell of Prasad and Akash, how they bowled, I think they set the tone for the rest of the day," he said.

Coming to the match, England once again opted to field first. After getting KL Rahul (2) early, a 80-run stand between Yashasvi Jaiswal (87 in 107 balls, with 13 fours) and Karun Nair (31 in 50 balls, with five fours) helped India gain some footing in the match. Skipper Shubman Gill had valuable partnerships of 203 runs with Ravindra Jadeja (89 in 137 balls, with 10 fours and a six) and a 144-run stand against Washington Sundar (42 in 103 balls, with three fours and a six), helping India towards 587, scoring 269 in 387 balls himself, with 30 fours and three sixes.

Shoaib Bashir (3/167) was the pick of the bowlers for England, while Chris Woakes and Josh Tongue also managed two each.

However, during the run-chase, England was restricted to 50/3. Jamie Smith (88 in 99, with nine fours and four sixes) was the only glimmer of hope for England as they were skittled out for just 271 runs, losing by 336 runs, thanks to a brilliant spell from Akash Deep (6/99), who ended up taking a ten-fer