Birmingham: Shubman Gill turned himself into a virtual ‘Run Machine’, smashing his third hundred in four innings to extend India’s lead to a healthy 484 runs at tea on day four of the second Test against England here on Saturday.
Gill changed gears post the lunch break to push the scoring rate before completing his second hundred of the game at the stroke of tea. India added 127 runs from 30 overs in the session.
He brought the rare milestone with a single off Bashir in the penultimate over before the tea break as India reached 304 for four in the second innings. Following his double in the first innings, the hundred celebrations were not over the top, signaling his focus on levelling the series.
In the process, he also also surpassed the great Sunil Gavaskar to tally the most runs by an Indian in a Test match. Gavaskar had amassed 344 runs in one of the Tests against West Indies back in 1971 at Port of Spain.
Gill shared a 110-run stand with Rishabh Pant (65 off 58) who exhibited breathtaking strokeplay and departed in a fitting fashion as he lost control of his bat in his attempt to whack Shoaib Bashir out of the park.
If Gill was the attacked by English bowlers in the morning session, he took the onus upon himself to take the attack back to the opposition camp in the second one.
Josh Tongue tried the short ball against Gill at the start of the session and Gill was happy to pull it over fine leg on two occasions. His knock included a flat batted boundary off Tongue while the Indian captain showed total disdain when Bashir was in operation.
In the morning session, KL Rahul lost his middle stump to a beauty from Tongue before Pant made the morning session more entertaining with his inimitable strokeplay, leaving India at 177 for three at lunch.
The 13-over old ball was expected to do a bit in cloudy conditions and it did for the England pacers especially Brydon Carse who bowled his heart out in the session.
Rahul (55 off 84) played some majestic cover drives before being undone by a peach from Tongue that straightened from an angle to uproot the Indian batter’s middle stump.
Karun Nair (26 off 46) was the first wicket to fall on the day, a result of Carse’s relentless pressure. Soon after being driven for four, Carse continued to lure Nair into a drive and was rewarded with an outside edge to the wicket-keeper.
The tall bowler, who dismissed Nair with a snorter in the first innings, hit Nair’s grille with a nasty bouncer, prompting a concussion check.
Pant came out in the 30th over and went ballistic from the get go. He smashed Josh Tongue for a four and a six over mid-off to make his intentions clear before executing a falling pick up shot off Ben Stokes that went all the way.
The crowd thoroughly enjoyed the battle between Pant and England bowlers. Towards the end of the session, Pant attempted a wild slog off Tongue but the bat slipped out his hands. Jamie Smith did well to collect the ball behind the stumps. PTI KHS
