Not even during the fag end of his Sachin Tendulkar's career was a player ever hailed as "The Prince". Virat Kohli was seen as the next batting leader across formats, but barring the fact that he went from using Nike to MRF few saw him as a heir apparent to Tendulkar at the start of his career.

But we live in different times now. Social media is a one-of-a-kind beast and tends to throw up names and anoint players, even before they became as big as many anticipated they would become.

And so even though Virat Kohli remains arguably India's most important batter, many have, for a while, seen Shubman Gill as "The Prince" to "The King".

In the last 9-10 months, however, Gill has not looked like India's batter of the future in Test cricket.

Asked to move from opening the batting to number three as India began a much-needed transition last year, the right-hander has not looked his usual elegant, fluent self and let the murmurs of whether he is cut to play that role, turn into relatively loud noise.

To be fair to him, he began in that role in West Indies and later batted there in South Africa- countries that don't offer easy batting conditions and so the series against England at home was going to be critical for him to show India had put their money on the right man to bat at three.

At Hyderabad, for some reason or the other, he went overtly defensive after India were given a rollicking start by Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma. The surface was neither a green seamer nor a rank turner, yet Gill made the surface look harder to bat on than what was the case.

In the second dig, he fell for no score when India would have dearly hoped for him contribute in a chase of 231.

And so he arrived in Vizag, perhaps for the first time in a long time, under pressure and with India's batting situation having worsened with the unavailability of KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja.

He got a start in the first innings, but edged one off James Anderson for 34 which ensured that the dreaded noise of disapproval from supporters only started to increase further.

Ask any out-of-form batter and they will tell you that they would not have regained the touch again if not for some fortune, coming their way. Gill got not one, but two lbw reprieves in the second innings on Sunday and after one of them went his way had a smile on his face, as if to say now I am going to make this my day.

No England spinner was spared, but Gill took a particular liking for leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed. Interestingly, he also opted to bat with a cap. You might wonder what difference that makes? The gap between the top of the helmet and the metal grill has decreased, over the years, and while no batter has ever complained of visibility due to that reduction, wearing a cap takes away that factor altogether and allows for a full, clear visibility of the ball.

Anyhow, back to Gill. The first aspect to consider as to why his returns (104 runs from 147 balls) were better than what they were previously for him at number three is the intent.

Gill has overtly relied on his defence so far as a number three batter, but instinctively is an stroke making, aggressive batter who can look comfortable of either foots when on song.

With very few balls bowled short on Sunday, one saw Gill's front foot play in full swing. His cover driving, straight driving, flicks through the leg side, the occasional sweep and the six off Ahmed were an indication that a different batter to the one we had seen so far had come to bat at three, in the second innings.

Gill's innings also vindicated why India went with him to bat in that position For a number of years, Cheteshwar Pujara occupied that spot and the runs would flow freely, but only one end-the opposite end.

A free-flowing Gill can match Yashasvi Jaiswal or Kohli in ensuring India's scoring rate does not fall, but stays up or even picks up further. It is why Ian Chappell also felt that VVS Laxman would have been an ideal number three for India because he was a boundary hitter.

As it turned out, Gill's return to form also helped India put up a competitive score to defend on a surface that has not yet worsened to the extent India would have hoped it would have when the final innings of the match began.

Personally, though, he would hope that the knock would open the floodgates and the runs will start to flow, in future.