Gill powers India to a new high in Birmingham
On the back of Shubman Gill’s record double hundred, India finished the second day with a significant advantage at Edgbaston.
Records tumbled aplenty as Shubman Gill set the stage on fire with a thundering 269, which was the highest-ever Test score by an Indian captain, and seventh highest overall for India in Tests.
Apart from breaking several other records, Gill’s double ton ensured that India finished their first innings at 587, their fourth highest total in the country.
Ravindra Jadeja (89) and Washington Sundar (42) also played a handy role on a wicket that remained true and helped India’s batting effort on the second day.
Jadeja and Gill combined to put on 203 runs for the sixth wicket and the Indian all-rounder paid tribute to the performance of his skipper.
"You didn’t see how much Shubman Gill has grown," Jadeja said after play.
"Shubman scored 269 runs. He was unlucky because it never looked like he was going to get out today. We were actually talking about building a long partnership."
England bowlers had a hard outing for the second successive day, with Shoaib Bashir (3/167) and Josh Tongue (2/119) being the pick of performers for the hosts.
"Spending 151 overs in the dirt in any scenario is pretty tough. There's some tired minds and tired bodies," England assistant coach Jeetan Patel said at stumps.
"You put in that much effort and it's not just physical, it's mental as well. Credit to Shubman for the way he's batted over two days, it was a masterclass in how to bat on a good wicket. The guys threw everything at them, and rightly so, but they're very tired for their efforts."
Having chosen to go without specialist bowlers in Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav for the second Test, the task for India’s bowling attack was cut out, as they set out in the sixth session of play on a flat deck.
Despite India’s outstanding performance with the willow, the conditions were good for batting and England walked out confident from their outing in the first Test, where they won by five wickets despite totals of 471 and 364 by India.
But India bowled significantly well with the new ball and picked three crucial wickets early.
Akash Deep, who replaced Bumrah in the XI for this Test, struck immediately with back-to-back wickets in his second over sending back Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope for ducks as India took early advantage.
Mohammed Siraj who was sharing the new ball duties with Akash, struck soon after to remove Zak Crawley. With England in peril at 25/3, Harry Brook (30*)* and Joe Root (18) stabilised the innings.
With a 52-run stand, the duo survived late scares to take England to safety at stumps. Going into day three, England trail by 510 runs with seven wickets in hand in their first innings.