England have stumbled to 77-3 to trail India by 510 runs on day two of their second Test after skipper Shubman Gill scored a record-breaking 269 and their seamers struck early to put the tourists in a commanding position at Edgbaston.
India were charged up on Thursday when Akash Deep picked up two wickets in two balls before Mohammed Siraj also got in on the act to clean up England’s top order and leave them tottering at 25-3 on what had been a good batting wicket.
Ben Duckett nicked a ball to third slip, where Gill took a smart diving catch before Ollie Pope fell the very next delivery for a duck when Deep drew an edge and the ball flew to KL Rahul in the slips.
Dropped catches had cost India the first Test at Headingley, but this time, they stuck as Siraj drew an edge from Zak Crawley to find Karun Nair at first slip.
“Fielding was definitely one of those things we spoke about as a team, and it’s great to see that come off so far,” Gill told the broadcaster Sky Sports.
“This game was all about confidence. We spoke about if we scored 400 again, batting first or batting second, we would be right in the game.”
Harry Brook (30) survived a review for LBW thanks to the umpire’s call, but he and Joe Root (18) absorbed the pressure to see out the day with an unbeaten 52-run partnership.
Record-breaking Gill
Earlier, Gill became the first Indian to score more than 250 outside the Indian subcontinent, breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 241, while he also recorded the highest score by an India captain when he went past Virat Kohli’s 254.
Gill had hardly put a foot wrong over the first two days of the Test, but he briefly lost his concentration after tea when he tried to dispatch a short ball from Josh Tongue, only to find Pope at square leg.
But the Edgbaston crowd rose to their feet to salute the captain’s knock as he walked back to the pavilion, his job done after India found themselves reeling at 211-5 on day one.
“I worked on a few things before the series that I thought might be important for me going into Test cricket,” said Gill, who has scored 424 runs in the series.
“Looking at the results, they are working for me.”
Having resumed on an overnight score of 310-5, Jadeja and Gill built a 203-run stand before the all-rounder fell to a Tongue bouncer, but Gill looked completely at ease on a flat track that offered precious little assistance.
As England’s bowlers toiled under the summer sun, Gill hardly broke a sweat and put a price on his wicket as he showcased his array of elegant drives and well-timed flicks to pile on the runs.
Take a bow, Shubman
Gill made his trademark bow once again after becoming the first India skipper to score a double-hundred in England and soon broke Sunil Gavaskar’s 46-year-old record for the highest score by an Indian in England (221 in 1979).
He was soon toying with the attack and the placement of fielders, coolly switching between sublime and unorthodox shots as he dispatched the ball to all corners of the ground.
With Washington Sundar playing patiently at the other end, Gill was in Twenty20 mode as they cruised past the 500-mark and a rare outside edge went for a boundary to take the captain to 250.
Root finally broke the seventh-wicket partnership of 144 when a delivery broke through the defence of Sundar as he departed for a well-made 42.
India’s tail added only 13 runs after Gill’s dismissal, but that gave their bowlers 20 overs to take a crack at England’s batters on a fruitful day as they look to level the series.
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