'A lot of pressure on his shoulders', Cook's advice to become the next star after Sachin Virat

Alastair Cook believes Shubman Gill will be the next big player after Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli.

New Delhi: Shubman Gill is seen as one of India's future stars and many even consider him as the next big thing in Indian cricket after Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli. Gill was coming off a run of low scores but after his century against England in the second innings in Vizag, he shut down all his critics.

Former England captain Alastair Cook also believes that Gill is the one who will take the lead in Indian batting after Virat Kohli. “Gill played beautifully. He's got some serious talent… and there was probably quite a bit of pressure on his shoulders. At the World Cup [in India]All the billboards were of Kohli, but he is the next to step into his shoes,” Cook told TNT Sports.

Cook also said that Gill, like Kohli and Tendulkar, will have to deal with a lot of pressure and expectations and he will have to learn to deal with it. “It's a big thing to have the pressure of a country as big as India on your shoulders. As a young talent, that is something that the likes of Tendulkar and Kohli have had to deal with… and he now has to deal with that.”

“What we saw today is how talented he is, the opportunities he has, and we'll definitely see him for the rest of this series. He was out of form, had not scored many runs, and there is Rahul and Kohli coming back into the side, but he has now made sure that the selectors cannot ignore him,” he added.

After setting an imposing target of 399 to beat India in the second Test, England finished play on day three at 67/1 in 14 overs. While India are on the rise, there is still the chance of England completing an unlikely chase through their Bazball style of playing Test cricket. Ben Duckett made 28 in an opening fifty-run stand with Zak Crawley before being dismissed by Ravichandran Ashwin.

Crawley was left not out on 29, alongside promoted Rehan Ahmed, who is unbeaten on nine, with England still needing 332 runs for an astonishing victory in what is the toughest challenge of the Bazball era yet. No team has ever made 300 in a fourth-innings chase in India and England's challenge also includes a variable-bounce delivery, as well as Joe Root's right little finger injury.

With fourteen overs left in the day, Duckett and Crawley took two boundaries each off Mukesh Kumar, although Bumrah was given the new ball to talk and ask questions of the openers. Crawley was quick to beat Kuldeep Yadav for six, followed by Duckett taking two fours from him through sweeps.

But Ashwin struck by ending Duckett's stay with a driving delivery which he hit to wicketkeeper KS Bharat, who dived forward from his usual guard position to take a diving catch. Crawley then drove Ashwin off the ground for four hours, while Rehan took two boundaries from Axar to end an enthralling day of Test cricket.

Earlier, building on Shubman Gill's third Test century and some key contributions from Axar Patel and Ashwin, India's second innings finished on 255 in 78.3 overs. Gill got a few strokes of luck early and made it count by hitting 104 off 147 balls, his maiden Test century as a number three batsman.