Cricket

KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant hit contrasting centuries on the fourth day to set England 371 to win the first Test at Headingley, Leeds. In reply, England batted out six overs for 21/0, setting up this Test for all four results on Tuesday where they have 90 overs to score 350 runs. KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant struck fine centuries before India were all out for 364 in their second innings in Leeds. (AP) This was Pant’s second hundred of the game, making him only the second wicketkeeper, after Zimbabwe’s Andy Flower (141 and 199* v South Africa – Harare, 2001) to achieve this feat in Tests. You also know it’s a special Test if five Indians have scored hundreds across two innings in an unprecedented feat, that too at Leeds, the theatre of two of the most absurd Test results in history. More invigorating was the calm with which India batted for nearly 100 overs after the day started with the early dismissal of Shubman Gill. This turnaround, mind you, is barely nine months into the shocking home series loss to New Zealand, followed by a hiding at Australia that had expedited the transition into a younger side. We were told to brace for choppy waters, and yet here India are, daring England to do their thing. At the heart of this challenge were the two hundreds — Rahul’s ninth and Pant’s eighth – and a 195-run stand for the fourth wicket it produced, which started with quietly playing out the first session before the scoring steadily picked up. Key to this staggered scoring was Gill’s dismissal, Brydon Carse making him drag on to his stumps in what was only the second over of the day. That was the cue for Rahul to frustrate England by leaving and blocking the moving ball with expertise rarely witnessed in a visiting batter. Pant too shelved his aggression for a while, leaving England searching for more breakthroughs. Those that came their way were grassed though. Rahul was on 55 when he tried to guide Josh Tongue over gully. The ball however reared up on him and Rahul couldn’t control the shot, leading to an edge that flew to Brook who couldn’t react in time. Pant was given two reprieves, first when he edged through a vacant first slip on 31, before flirting with the first slip by edging past him when on 49. It took 83 balls for Pant to reach his fifty. Once there, Pant threw caution to the wind, taking only 47 balls to get to his second hundred of the game, 22 of those deliveries consumed in moving from 95. At the other end, Rahul was a picture of calm, playing late with soft hands, copping a few blows to the glove but keeping the ball on the ground. Stokes seemed to rile him the most, prodigiously swinging the ball. But to Rahul’s credit, he never let the main goal out of his sight. Frustrating England throughout the first session, Rahul took the reins of the game by dictating the pace of the innings. To Stokes, he punched him through covers for a sumptuous four. To Carse, he then unleashed a cut so late that third slip and gully could only watch it bissect them. A two through covers saw Rahul reach his eighth overseas hundred, his sixth outside Asia as an opener, with only Sunil Gavaskar ahead of him with 15 hundreds. This was also a personal triumph for Rahul, considering the circumstances in which he had headed into this series. By hierarchy and seniority, India’s Test captaincy should have ideally gone to Rahul but of far greater consequence was the runs left in him. A middling average in the 30s a decade into his career, there was no denying that decay had set in. To be fair, his calmness was underutilised for a long time as well, prompting him to drift between formats, not sure of his destiny. Only an innings with a rare blend of class and delicacy could have put an end to all that talk. Thankfully for him, it came in the series opener itself. Getting to his hundred was licence to break loose, and so Pant hammered Joe Root for three fours and a six in an over. Off-spinner Shoaib Bashir was taken for runs earlier, conceding two sixes in the 58th over. And so, when he returned after Root’s pounding, Pant quickly went after him. Only this time he found the fielder at long-on, bringing Karun Nair to the crease. He reverse-swept Bashir for four but couldn’t go past after Chris Woakes brilliantly held on to a return catch. This was where the wobble started, which to be fair isn’t new with India. India lost 7/41 in the first innings, and in the second innings too it was a worrying 6/31. Tongue took three wickets in an over but Ravindra Jadeja stayed around to contribute 12. Is 371 enough? Statistically yes. Only once though have India lost defending a 350-plus score — at Edgbaston in 2022. That is bound to hang heavy on their psyche as this Test moves into the fifth day with England raring to chase down.