India captain Shubman Gill was finally introduced to the rigours of leading a Test team on Day 2 of the first match against England at Headingley, Leeds as he was put to the test by England’s Bazball approach. The hosts finished the day well in control of their first innings on 209/3 with Ollie Pope and Harry Brook at the crease, trailing India by 262 runs
After India failed to put an imposing score in excess of 600 on the board, England batters made full use of the good surface, scoring at over four runs an over and put captain Gill under extreme pressure. India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah was on song right from the word go as he accounted for Zak Crawley with a magical delivery.
ENG vs IND 1st Test Day 2 Highlights
The speedster could well have also got rid of Ben Duckett on 15, if not for a drop catch from India’s best fielder, Ravindra Jadeja, at point. The opportunity ended up costing the team badly as he got involved in a massive 124-run stand with Ollie Pope to stabilise his team’s innings.
Bumrah breathes fire
Bumrah was once again left fighting a lone battle as he lacked support from his compatriots. Captain Gill was also found looking for a method to stop the runflow as England continued to move ahead with the game at a brisk pace.
At the end, he had to return to Bumrah at the stroke of tea, and the speedster responded by dismissing Duckett (62) at the beginning of the third session. He was once again let down by Indian fielders as Yashasvi Jaiswal ended up dropping Pope on 60 off his bowling.
Earlier, he also survived a close lbw shout against Mohammed Siraj, where he was saved by the umpire’s call. Pope made full use of his reprieves and brought up his ninth Test century to take England past 200. The Indian bowling, apart from Bumrah, looked completely lacklustre as Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur leaked runs at economy rates of five and seven respectively.
As a result, Gill had to turn to his main man once again, right at the end of the day’s play, and the man with the golden arm responded by getting the biggest wicket in the England team of Joe Root (28), just before stumps. Bumrah almost got another wicket as Harry Brook tried to pull him away in the last over of the day, but much to his dismay, the speedster ended up overstepping and gave another life to the young batter.
Rishabh Pant hits historic century
Earlier in India’s first innings, Gill and Rishabh Pant continued from where they left off on Day 2 as they began the day on a positive note. It didn’t take long for Rishabh Pant to begin his audacious strokeplay as he went after Brydon Carse and scored three boundaries against the seamer to move into the 80s. The wicketkeeper batter further took on Shoaib Bashir and brought up his seventh Test century with a gigantic six over deep midwicket.
He even re-created his famous celebration from the Indian Premier League (IPL), doing fun acrobatics on the pitch. Pant and Gill extended their partnership beyond 200 as England ran out of plans to stop the mayhem. Captain Gill fell three runs short of his 150 as he got holed out to deep square leg against Bashir, ending the 209-run stand for the third wicket.
Indian batting capitulates
After Gill’s dismissal, the England seamers suddenly managed to find some swing as captain Ben Stokes once again managed to get crucial breakthroughs on the stroke of lunch. He got rid of Karun Nair for a duck, courtesy of a sensational catch from Ollie Pope. At the other end, Josh Tongue trapped Rishabh Pant in front of the stumps, bringing his swashbuckling innings to an end on 134.
Stokes (4/66) further dismissed Shardul Thakur for 1 as India went into lunch on 454/7. It didn’t take long for England to wrap up the tail in the second session with Josh Tongue (4/86) running through the tail. As a result, India got all out for 471 in the first innings, falling way short of the 600-plus mark, everyone expected them to breach.
