9 July 2025 : Joe Wilson, the BBC cricket journalist, who got publicly trolled by Shubman Gill for reminding him of India’s nit-so-proud record at Edgbaston and Birmingham, has vowed never to “motivate” the Indian captain again before a Test match. Before the start of the second India vs England Test at Edgbaston, Wilson asked Gill about India’s poor record at Edgbaston — India were yet to win a Test at the venue in 19 attempts. The Indian captain tackled the question quite gracefully at that time but decided to have a cheeky dig at the British journalist after India ended their winless run at Edgbaston with a 336-run victory against England.
“I can’t see my favourite journalist. Where is he? I wanted to see him,” Gill said at the post-match press conference when asked by an Indian journalist about his reaction to the same question now.
A couple of days later, Wilson shared his views on Gill’s response. Talking to RevSports, the experienced journalist said his question might have motivated Shubman Gill and the Indian side to put up a show in the second Test. “I won’t say anything that motivates him,” Wilson said when asked if he would change his question before the third Test at Lord’s. “I think he’s a real gentleman. He answers every question with dignity and intelligence. He’s leading his team pretty well in all departments, especially in the media.”
English reporter reacts to Shubman Gill’s ‘favourite journalist’ taunt
Wilson also agreed that stats can sometimes be misleading, as they refer to different times and generations without considering the changing dynamics.
“What the captain said was very sensible. If you look back at the 1970s and even the 1980s, there was a very different feel about the Indian Test team here. When they would come aboard and would never really have the expectation to win. Now they do have that. Maybe that was the statistics playing around with his or maybe that was a motivation because we’ve almost lost count of the records that Shubman himself broke. How to get Shubman out is now the number one question for the England coaches,” he added.
India’s victory in Edgbaston marked the longest streak for any team to register a win at a particular venue. Gill was at the forefront of it all, scoring 430 runs in the match — the most by any Indian and the second-most overall. His historic 269-run effort in the first innings was the highest by an Indian captain, surpassing Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 254 against the West Indies. Gill also became the first Asian captain to hit a double century in SENA countries.
Gill followed that up with a 161 in the second innings, becoming the first cricketer in 148 years to hit a double century and a 150 in the same match.
Gill’s heroics with the bat was well backed up by Akash Deep with the ball. Replacing Jasprit Bumrah in the Indian XI, Akash Deep picked up 10 wickets in the match, including a six-wicket haul in the second innings.
Summary:
After Shubman Gill playfully taunted, “Where’s my favourite journalist?” in the post-Edgbaston press conference, BBC’s Joe Wilson admitted he’d consider steering clear of prematch motivation