2nd Test: India in sight of victory after Gill’s majestic 161 and Akash-Siraj new ball strikes
Birmingham, July 6 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) Skipper Shubman Gill yet again led from the front with a majestic 161, after hitting a masterly 269 in the first innings, while Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj struck thrice with the new ball as India increased their control on proceedings to leave England at 72/3 at stumps on day four’s play in the second Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy Test at Edgbaston on Saturday.
England were inserted into a daunting chase of 608 after India declared their second innings on 427/6, with Gill’s elegance leading the way once again for India. Gill stepped up with his elegant strokeplay to hit 13 fours and eight sixes in what was his eighth Test hundred, fifth against England, and third one in his fourth innings as India’s Test captain.
With an aggregate of 430 runs, Gill has become the second-highest run-scorer in a single Test match after England’s Graham Gooch (456 runs) and is also the first player to score 200 and 150 in the same Test match. He was well-supported by KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, and Ravindra Jadeja, hitting half-centuries respectively.
Just like how it happened in England’s first innings, Akash and Siraj continued their new ball onslaught to leave England’s top order in tatters. With Harry Brook and Ollie Pope unbeaten on 15 and 24 respectively, England now need 536 more runs to win on day five, while India require seven wickets for what would be a fabulous series-levelling victory, provided rain stays away.
The day’s play began with Rahul resuming from 28 by taking two fours off Brydon Carse, with the second one coming off an outside edge flying past the gully. Carse then put Karun Nair on a stern test of short balls – once being hit on the grille of the helmet, and at other times the ball flying between the gap at slips for four.
Though Nair got three boundaries off Carse, the pacer got his reward for bowling an excellent spell as he extracted Nair’s edge once again on an attempted expansive drive and was caught by keeper Jamie Smith leaping to his right to send the batter back for 26.
Rahul then notched up another excellent fifty on the tour with a solid drive to long-off, fetching him three runs. But when Rahul went for a solid drive off Josh Tongue, he was left in disbelief as the pacer got the 138kmph ball to angle and sneak through Rahul’s defences to send the middle stump on a cartwheel ride, with the batter falling for 55.
Pant’s entry was an eventful one, pulling Tongue for four behind square, before dancing down the pitch to smack a clean, straight six. Pant got a reprieve on 10 when Zak Crawley dropped his catch at mid-off on Ben Stokes’ bowling.
That turned out to be a costly drop as Pant slapped and swept Tongue for four and six, before pulling Shoaib Bashir thrice for boundaries. In between, he lost his grip on the bat handle, and his bat landed at backward square leg, leaving everyone in splits, before a whirlwind session of Test cricket came to a close, as England got only two scalps.
Pant began the second session by cutting Bashir through backward point for four, before Gill flicked a switch by moving across the crease to hammer two fours and as many sixes off Tongue. After Gill, who was 25 off 47 balls at one point, brought up his fifty off 57 balls, Pant followed suit by bringing up his 16th Test fifty off 61 deliveries.
Pant continued to be at his buccaneering best by smashing four quick boundaries, including his trademark falling sweep, before he lost the grip of his bat handle again and landed at midwicket. But the ball was safely caught by long-off, as Pant fell for 65.
Despite Jadeja not showing much run-making intent in their unbroken 68-run stand, Gill continued to get boundaries before reaching his century off 128 balls by tucking Bashir to mid-off for a single and leaving the crowd in awe of him and his rich vein of form before the tea break came.
The final session began with Jadeja signalling a shift in gears by smashing over Bashir’s head for a straight six on the very first ball he faced. Gill continued to be at his run-making best by smacking Woakes for a six and two fours, before he and Jadeja took a boundary each off Bashir. Jadeja then cut Root away for four through backward point to bring up the second half-century of this game off 94 balls.
After Jadeja swept Gill for four, Gill slog-swept Root for consecutive sixes, before the former cleared the mid-off fielder for another boundary. Gill got his 150 up by executing a slog-sweep off Root to perfection, before Pope lost sight of a top-edge to give him another boundary.
Gill then swung Bashir over midwicket for six, before his attempt to get another maximum resulted in him mistiming back to the bowler, as he walked off to a standing ovation for his knock of 161. After Nitish Kumar Reddy holed out to long-off against Root, Washington Sundar hit the part-timer for a four and six before declaration came from India to have a crack at a tired England line-up.
Ben Duckett began England’s chase by slicing and flicking Siraj for boundaries, before the pacer had success by tempting Zak Crawley to play a drive and slicing straight to backward point, where sub-fielder B Sai Sudharsan took the catch as the batter fell for a seven-ball duck.
After India burnt a review on Duckett nicking behind, the opener hit a flurry of boundaries before inside-edging to his stumps off Akash for 25. A brilliant Akash came back to strike by using the wide of the crease angle and getting the ball to nip past Joe Root’s blade and hit the top of his off-stump to dismiss him for six. Pope and Brook hit a couple of boundaries before another dominating day of Test cricket came to a close for India.
Brief scores:
India 587 and 427/6 dec in 83 overs (Shubman Gill 161, Rishabh Pant 65, KL Rahul 55, Ravindra Jadeja 69 not out; Josh Tongue 2-93, Shoaib Bashir 2-119) lead England 407 and 72/3 in 16 overs (Ben Duckett 25, Harry Brook 24 not out; Akash Deep 2-36, Mohammed Siraj 1-29) by 536 runs
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