Captain continues his glorious form by smashing a host of batting records to put India in position to level Test series

The sound of Shubman Gill’s bat could stop traffic. The man’s forward defence lands with the crack of John Bonham’s drum. It is a shot no one really notices in the moment but demands everyone’s attention as soon as it’s over because of the way noise resounds around the ground in the split second afterwards, like a teacher smacking his hand down on a table to get the pupils to shut up.

It is the very model of the shot. His bat comes down like Gandalf’s staff. Pick it, clip it, stick it on social media and you could have kids all across India striding out of their ground to pat the ball back the way it came.