BIRMINGHAM: Shubman Gill played a masterful captain’s knock to rescue India with his second century of the series on the opening day of the second Test against England as the tourists finished on 310-5 at stumps here at Edgbaston on Wednesday.
Gill was under pressure due to his team selection after pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah was rested, but the skipper played a dogged knock and barely put a foot wrong as he wore down the England bowlers while playing confident strokes.
Gill had taken 199 balls to bring up his seventh test hundred, the slowest of his career but authoritative in the circumstances as he ended the day unbeaten on 114 while he had Ravindra Jadeja (41 not out) for company at stumps.
After Ben Stokes won the toss and put India in to bat, opener Yashasvi Jaiswal looked well set for a big score but fell in the second session to the England skipper when he was on 87 to miss out on his second ton in the series.
India have never won a Test at Edgbaston in eight attempts and when they were reeling at 211-5, England threatened to reopen wounds from the first Test at Headingley, where the tourists’ lower order collapsed in both innings.
But Jadeja walked in to steady the ship and consolidated the innings with a 99-run partnership with Gill as the all-rounder rotated strike without taking any undue risks, propelling his skipper towards triple figures.
As England eagerly waited for the new ball, Joe Root bowled the 80th over in a bid to surprise the set batters but after four dot balls, Gill executed two fine sweeps to bring up a second century in the series.
Earlier, India lost opener K.L. Rahul cheaply when he played on a rising delivery from Chris Woakes while Karun Nair, who was promoted up the order, fell for 31, caught in the slips just before lunch after playing some exquisite drives.
Jaiswal saw off the new ball early on in cloudy conditions but once the lush green outfield was bathed in sunshine he got into his groove and scored at nearly a run a ball, with Josh Tongue bearing the brunt of his onslaught.
Gill took the majority of the strike in the second session while Jaiswal watched on and that was when Stokes made the breakthrough.
Having scored a century in the opening Test, Jaiswal was on 87 when he sliced at a wide delivery and was caught behind by an ecstatic Jamie Smith to leave India on 161-3. That brought Rishabh Pant to the crease and the wicket-keeper/batter, who smashed two centuries in the first Test, launched off-spinner Shoaib Bashir over the deep mid-wicket boundary for the first six of the match.
But Bashir had the last laugh as Pant (25) lived dangerously and the batter made another attempt to clear the ropes, only to find Zak Crawley in the deep, opening the door to the lower order.
Nitish Kumar Reddy came in and lasted six balls when Woakes struck again, tempting the India batter to leave a superb delivery that nipped back in and hit the top of off stump to send the bails flying.
England had named the same team and India made three changes, resting Bumrah as they manage his back issues through the series — a decision that baffled former players and coaches.
Sai Sudharsan and Shardul Thakur were dropped, with Reddy, Washington Sundar and Akash Deep coming into the side to strengthen the lower order.
Scoreboard
INDIA (1st Innings):
Y. Jaiswal c Smith b Stokes 87
K.L. Rahul b Woakes 2
K. Nair c Brook b Carse 31
S. Gill not out 114
R. Pant c Crawley b Bashir 25
N. K. Reddy b Woakes 1
R. Jadeja not out 41
EXTRAS (B-1, LB-4, NB-4) 9
TOTAL (for 5 wkts, 85 overs) 310
STILL TO BAT: W. Sundar, A. Deep, M. Siraj, P. Krishna
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-15 (Rahul), 2-95 (Nair), 3-161 (Jaiswal), 4-208 (Pant), 5-211 (Reddy)
BOWLING: Woakes 21-6-59-2 (1nb), Carse 16-2-49-1, Tongue 13-0-66-0, Stokes 15-0-58-1 (3nb), Bashir 19-0-65-1, Root 1-0-8-0
ENGLAND: Z. Crawley, B. Duckett, O. Pope, J. Root, H. Brook, B. Stokes, J. Smith, C. Woakes, B. Carse, J. Tongue, S. Bashir
UMPIRES: Chris Gaffaney (New Zealand) and Sharfuddoula (Bangladesh)
TV UMPIRE: Paul Reiffel (Australia)
MATCH REFEREE: Richie Richardson (West Indies)
Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2025
