DAY 2 – EDGBASTON, 2ND TEST
Gill’s 269 was the highest-ever by an Indian captain in Test cricket © Getty
Records were rewritten by the minute at Edgbaston on Thursday as Shubman Gill etched his name in history books with a phenomenal knock of 269 on Day 2 of the second Test against England. After finishing with 587 in their first innings, the visitors tightened their grip on the game with an exceptional new-ball spell from their pacers. On a good batting surface, England were rattled early to 25/3 inside eight overs before making a solid recovery to go to stumps at 77/3, still trailing India by 510 runs.
The day belonged to India and their skipper, who batted for over two sessions on his way to becoming the highest scorer for the country on English shores. Gill forged two crucial partnerships – worth 203 with Ravindra Jadeja (89) and a 144-run stand with Washington Sundar (42) – to take India close to the 600-run mark, absorbing the pressure of the scrutiny around his team selection and batting re-jig.
The first milestone of the day was Gill’s maiden 150 in the format that made him only the second Indian skipper to do so in England since Mohammad Azharuddin’s 179 at Old Trafford in 1990. Continuing from where he’d left off on Day 1, the skipper was at the forefront of the team’s brisk start to the day that saw 55 runs added in 13 overs before drinks. With the wicket offering nothing to the bowlers, England looked listless and desperate for a breakthrough as the sixth-wicket pair carried on largely untroubled.
Spinner Shoaib Bashir came under the attack from the well-set pair with Jadeja first lofting one down the ground for a six that raised India’s 400 followed by a slog-sweep behind square from Gill for maximum that brought up the 200 of their partnership.
Josh Tongue, at the other end, resorted to the short-ball ploy that had worked well for England the previous evening, and prised out the much-needed breakthrough for his side. A bumper from round the wicket had Jadeja beaten for pace and bounce, and he gloved it to the keeper while trying to fend. He fell just 11 short of a deserving hundred, having played his part in keeping England at bay for nearly all of the morning session which resulted in 109 runs for India at 4.36.
The post-Lunch session was the most productive one of the day for India with 145 added in 31 overs, and saw Gill claim several milestones. Leading from the front in the 144-run stand with Washington, Gill seemed unflappable as he made the English attack sweat and fret on the flat wicket.
Washington did face some early music early on in his innings, before Lunch, but overcame that with a brief counterattack when England deployed the short-ball tactic against the left-hander. After taking out Ravindra Jadeja with a bouncer in the morning session, Tongue used more of it to unsettle the allrounder. He awkwardly fended one off his body, that evaded a dive from Bashir at fine-leg to run into the fence, and immediately after dismissively pulled one high into the stands in the same region.
Tongue persisted with more short stuff and, at the start of his next over, Gill pulled one behind square for a single that made him only the third Indian to notch up a double ton in England while also becoming the second youngest India captain to do so roughly two months short of his 26th birthday. He continued to score freely off Bashir, forcing England’s hand to make a bowling change but Harry Brook was welcomed into the attack with equal disdain – a hattrick of boundaries that included a cut and two perfectly-timed straight drives by the Indian skipper.
Gill took India past 500 just after the hourly drinks break, making it the sixth instance of a visiting team breaching the mark in an Edgbaston Test and first since South Africa in 2003, before also raising the hundred of his partnership with Washington. Bashir returned into the attack and so did Gill’s attacking ways as he skipped down the track to loft him down the ground for a maximum before forcing part-timer Brook off the attack with an 11-run over where he added two more boundaries to his tally. With the second of those fours, Gill became only the sixth Indian batter to make a 250 in Tests.
Desperate to break the partnership, Stokes threw the ball to Root with Tea around the corner and the former captain did not disappoint. After a vital hand of 42, Washington saw his middle-stump knocked back by the part-time spinner.
Gill went to Tea at 265 not out, well poised to become the third Indian with a triple, but a tame dismissal soon after the break brought curtains on his captain’s knock. For England, and Tongue, it was the short ball again that did the trick as Gill pulled it straight to square-leg to walk back for 269 – country’s seventh-best individual effort in Tests and the highest ever by an Indian captain.
Akash Deep holed out in the following over, and the last-wicket pair could add only 13 more to take India’s first innings total to 587.
Filling the big shoes of Jasprit Bumrah, Akash had a forgettable first over to begin with, leaking 12 runs with two boundaries and a no-ball. Nonetheless, he overcame that with a double wicket maiden next up. Gill’s day only got better when he pulled off a stunner to his left at third slip to send the PoTM of England’s Headingley win, Ben Duckett, back for a duck, and Ollie Pope sent a leading edge KL Rahul’s way at second slip, trying to flick first ball.
The home side had barely made a recovery when Mohd. Siraj lent another blow. Zak Crawley unnecessarily poked a delivery shaping away from him, and ended up edging it to first slip to fall for 19.
With 12.5 overs left in the day, England found themselves under more pressure than ever but Joe Root was joined by Brook to see them off to stumps without much further trouble. That said, the hosts still find themselves in a precarious position with another 310 needed to make India bat again.
Brief scores: England 77/3 (Joe Root 30*; Akash Deep 2-36) trail India 587 (Shubman Gill 269, Ravindra Jadeja 89, Yashasvi Jaiswal 87; Shoaib Bashir 3-167, Chir Woakes 2-81, Josh Tongue 2-119) by 510 runs
© Cricbuzz
