'Greatest player': Kevin Pietersen shares old post drawing parallels between Shubman Gill-Jacques Kallis

Shubman Gill in action at Edgbaston (BCCI Photo)

Shubman Gill has shown remarkable form in the ongoing tour of England, slamming centuries for fun. It started with an incredible 147 at Headingley, albeit in a losing cause, but India's new Test captain carried forward the form at Edgbaston, Birmingham. Here, he not only completed his ton but added another 169 runs to his tally to dethrone batting legends Sachin Tendulkar and Shubman Gill. Riding on Gill's effort, India piled a commanding 587 in the first innings and the early returns by Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj have given visitors a hope to inflict a follow-on on Ben Stokes and Co.

Gill's knock saw him earn many plaudits and joining them was former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen, who highlighted his over a year-old post on the "Prince" of Indian cricket. “Remember my tweet about @ShubmanGill?" Pietersen wrote on X on Thursday evening.

The post was a screenshot of Pietersen's old tweet on the Indian captain, in which he urged people to allow more time to Gill and compared him to the stature of legendary Proteas all-rounder Jacques Kallis. “Kallis averaged 22 in his first 10 Tests and turned out to be arguably the greatest player to play the game. Give @ShubmanGill time to find it, please. He is a serious player," Pietersen had then shared.

Remember my tweet about @ShubmanGill ? pic.twitter.com/7cGKPNxrZ4

— Kevin Pietersen (@KP24) July 3, 2025

Pietersen's post is from the second Test of England's tour of India in 2024, when James Anderson dismissed Gill for 34 in the opening innings. He was coming off from scores of 23 and 0 in the first Test and hence received a lot of criticism.

Gill had then slammed two centuries and accumulated 452 runs in nine innings at an average of 56.5 to finish as the second-highest run scorer behind Yashasvi Jaiswal in the five-match series, which India won 4-1.

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Meanwhile, he made history on Thursday by becoming the first captain from Asia and India to reach a double century in a Test match played in England. Gill also surpassed Gavaskar's 221 at the Oval in 1979 to register the best individual score by an Indian batter on English soil. He also became the first Indian batsman to hit 250 outside the subcontinent. The previous best was Sachin Tendulkar's unbeaten 241 against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 2004.

Gill's accomplishment is exceptional not only because of his scores but also since this is his debut series as Test captain.