LEEDS, England (AP) — Rishabh Pant reached a century and captain Shubman Gill got his highest score before India lost four wickets to England on the second morning of the test series opener Saturday at Headingley.
India was 454-7 at lunch after adding 95 runs in the session for the loss of Gill on 147, Pant on 134, Karun Nair for a duck and Shardul Thakur on 1.
The wickets were shared by captain Ben Stokes, Shoaib Bashir and Josh Tongue in a profitable morning by England despite the pitch being recognized as a batters’ paradise.
Stokes continued to find some swing and removed Nair then Thakur on the stroke of lunch.
Gill resumed on 127 and soon passed his highest test score of 128 in 2023 against Australia at Ahmedabad. But he took a back seat to his vice captain Pant, who moved from 65 overnight into the 90s with hacks, mistimed and unorthodox shots that entertained.
Pant has been out seven times in the 90s, and he inched to 99. The common sense play would be to reach the hundred with a single, but in typical Pant fashion he hoicked a six off Bashir over cow corner.
He celebrated his seventh test hundred and third against England with a somersault in his pads but without his helmet.
It was the third time he’s reached a hundred with a six, tied on India’s list with Rohit Sharma, and behind only Sachin Tendulkar, who did it six times. Pant’s hundred also made him the India wicketkeeper with the most, seven, leaving behind Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
For all of Pant’s antics, he and Gill looked well set. But nearly an hour and a half into the morning session, their stand of 209 runs ended when Gill toe-ended Bashir to a catch at deep midwicket.
Gill made 147 off 227 balls, including 19 boundaries. His exit prompted a collapse of 24-4.
Nair’s eight-year wait to play for India again lasted only four balls when he poked at Stokes and Ollie Pope took a great goalkeeper-style catch in the covers.
Pant was next, Tongue’s late swing trapping him on the crease. Pant’s 178-ball knocked included six sixes and a dozen boundaries, and he walked off to a standing ovation from the crowd.
Thakur came out for his first test in 18 months and survived a run out chance before he scored, but on 1 gave a loose shot at Stokes and edged behind.
Ravindra Jadeja went to lunch on 2.
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AP cricket:
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