Birmingham, July 3 -- Indian skipper Shubman Gill gave a massive upgrade to Indian cricket history books with a stroke-filled, marathon double ton against England in the second Test at Birmingham on Thursday.

At the end of the second session, Gill was still unbeaten at 265* in 380 balls, with 30 fours and three sixes. His runs came at a strike rate of almost 70.

He is only the sixth Indian to score a 250-plus score in Tests, joining the elite company of Virender Sehwag, who did it four times, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Karun Nair and Virat Kohli. Gill is the first Indian to do so outside of the Indian subcontinent; the previous best was Sachin's masterclass of 241* against Australia at Sydney in 2004.

He joined Rahul Dravid (217 at The ...