Gill holds India together with second hundred as captain
England picked up five wickets on the first day at Edgbaston to leave the match in the balance
Vithushan Ehantharajah02-Jul-20257:22
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Stumps Shubman Gill’s roar said it all. At 10.30am, he fronted up at the toss to reveal Jasprit Bumrah would be rested for this second Test at Edgbaston. Then, shortly after 6pm, after everyone had broadly agreed that India were wrong to leave out their world-class quick when trailing 1-0 to England, Gill ripped off his helmet, pierced the air with a second shriek in two weeks, and then, as is custom, bowed to mark his seventh Test century.Explaining the decision to rest Bumrah, Gill revealed the India management felt Lord’s would offer their prized asset more than this Edgbaston track. And, as he saw out the day unbeaten on 114, he has at least done his bit to ensure India are not further behind when they head to London next week. At 310 for 5, they are in a promising position, albeit with a line-up harbouring fewer specialist batters.Related
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If Gill’s first hundred in this series at Headingley announced his arrival as India’s Test captain, this one felt like a retaliation to its rigours and stresses. The news of Bumrah’s resting came as one of three changes that also drew unflattering attention to a touring party already shuffling the deckchairs. Akash Deep, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar drafted into the XI, B Sai Sudharsan and Shardul Thakur dropped.Ben Stokes’ decision to win the toss and bowl for a second consecutive match, and under bright sunshine once more, was broadly vindicated by a valiant showing from his quicks. Chris Woakes, with 2 for 59, was the pick of them and unlucky not to have more. All told, England did little wrong.Much was resting on Gill’s shoulders, even before the burden of being out in the middle for all of 216 deliveries started to jar his back. At 5.55pm, with 270 for 5 by India’s name and 86 by his, he called out the physiotherapist for some healing contortions. Resuming his innings, he was more intent on seeing out the remaining 35 minutes than reaching three-figures. That he got there quickly, with boundaries in consecutive deliveries, owed as much to a couple of filthy Joe Root offies as Gill’s penchant for the sweep.England celebrate KL Rahul’s wicket•Getty Images
Though the 11 fours to the milestone were crisp and spread relatively evenly – as many through cover (three) as between backward square-leg and midwicket – the 199 deliveries to reach it spoke volumes of Gill’s fight. He did not get ahead of himself, nor get fooled into ego games when Stokes posted three people at cover and one at short mid-on, daring him to beat any and all of them. And yet still after all that, there is more fighting to be done.Gill arrived at the crease on 95 for 2, six minutes before lunch, upon Brydon Carse’s dismissal of Karun Nair, promoted to No. 3 in Sai Sudharsan’s absence. That delivery – rising to take the splice off a length, through to Harry Brook at second slip – came in Carse’s second spell, after both he and Woakes opened proceedings with as close to the perfect first hour.Woakes was immaculate, prising out KL Rahul early for a torturous 2 from 26 deliveries in an impressive new-ball spell which read 1 for 15 from seven overs. That included four maidens on the bounce.Playing in just his fourth Edgbaston Test, the hometown hero was unlucky not to make more inroads after standing umpire Sharfuddoula turned down two close lbw appeals – the first against Yashasvi Jaiswal on 12, the second against Nair on 5.India rested Jasprit Bumrah, a decision that everybody had an opinion on•Associated Press
Both were reviewed only to come back with fractional umpire’s calls on the predicted path into the stumps. And it felt fitting that his second wicket trimmed the top of off stump, when Reddy pressed forward and left, only to be undone by wicked seam movement into the right-hand batter.Reddy was the second to fall in ten deliveries after Rishabh Pant inexplicably launched Shoaib Bashir into the hands of Zak Crawley at long-on. Perhaps Pant was fooled by the presence of a mid-on up in the circle, too. Either way, it was a gross error of judgement at a time when he and Gill were rebuilding steadily. Bashir, though, deserves credit for enticing the shot with a 74kph/46mph delivery that dipped late, in part due to a bolt upright seam. From twin centuries to a subdued 25, England were understandably giddy to have snared the batter in such fashion.The trigger for the initial diligence of the fourth-wicket stand was the loss of Jaiswal, at fault himself when slashing loosely at a wide delivery from Stokes, caught behind by Jamie Smith. As ever against England, Jaiswal looked in control of his own destiny, maintaining his streak of scoring at least 50 in all seven Tests against them.Yashasvi Jaiswal has played seven Tests against England and made 50-plus scores in each of them•Associated Press
He moved to his half-century off 59 deliveries, accelerating into it with the help of some wayward bowling from Josh Tongue. Three boundaries from the Nottinghamshire quick’s third over were followed by three-in-a-row from what turned out to be Tongue’s sixth and final one of his spell, as Stokes ordered his quicks to instigate their usual bumper ploy.A hook took Jaiswal to 49, before he leapt into a vicious cut high over point to pass fifty, followed by a celebratory four – his 11th – carved past third. And he showed patience through the middle session, driving Carse through cover five balls after lunch, and later guiding Tongue past the cordon for the last of 13 boundaries to take him to 81.Perhaps he ran out of patience when going after Stokes. What was certain was Gill would not make the same mistake. The route from fifty to hundred took 74 deliveries, and contained six fours to the five in the previous 125, but felt far more cautious alongside Ravindra Jadeja; the allrounder a sensible crutch for his skipper, even if he rests on a sprightlier 41 from 67 deliveries.Gill and Jadeja will pick up their stand in the morning on 99, well aware of the need to do much more as the last seasoned batters. The lessons learned from spurning positions of 430 for 3 and 333 for 4 in the first Test need to be put into practice.