England toiling vs India at Edgbaston, close on 77-3 in reply to 587 all out as Shubman Gill scores double century

England toiling vs India at Edgbaston, close on 77-3 in reply to 587 all out as Shubman Gill scores double century | Cricket News

A frazzled England lost three early wickets after Shubman Gill hit a masterful maiden double century as India assumed total control of the second Test on day two at Edgbaston.

Gill’s 269 from 387 balls on the most docile of surfaces, an innings which featured 30 fours and three sixes and propelled the visitors from 211-5 to 587 all out, is the highest score by an Indian in England, eclipsing the 221 struck by Sunil Gavaskar at The Oval in 1979.

The classy, chanceless knock, filled with watchful batting and peerless drives and scored in front of a passionate travelling support, came after India had been inserted by England captain Ben Stokes on day one for the second match in succession.

England pulled off a chase of 371 in Leeds, quietening those who had questioned Stokes’ decision to bowl first, but they will have to go some to repeat that, with Gill then starring in the field as the hosts closed on 77-3 having tumbled to 25-3 amid a sea of loose strokes.

Gill took a stunning diving catch at slip for the first of two wickets in as many balls – that grab removing Headingley hero Ben Duckett (0) before Ollie Pope also bagged a blob as he snicked to KL Rahul.

Akash Deep, playing in place of the rested Jasprit Bumrah, removed Duckett and Pope in the third over with some new-ball swing, before Mohammed Siraj then forced Zak Crawley (19) to edge a ball that nipped away in the eighth, with England’s top three all perhaps suffering from weary minds and bodies after 151 overs in the field.

Harry Brook (30no), who played skittishly at times and almost fell onto his stumps in the final over, and Joe Root (18no) then stitched an unbroken alliance of 52 to take England to stumps.

Gill makes history on listless surface

Gill and Ravindra Jadeja (89) earlier extended their sixth-wicket stand from its overnight 99 to 203 before Josh Tongue (2-119) bounced out the latter shortly before lunch, denying Jadeja a fifth Test ton and second on this ground after his 104 three years ago.

Left-arm spinner Jadeja will now have a big role to play with the ball on a track India hope will crack and turn as they aim to level the five-match series ahead of the third Test at Lord’s from July 10, before further games at Emirates Old Trafford and The Kia Oval.

India have selected two spinners in this game with Washington Sundar supporting Jadeja, after being preferred to left-armer Kuldeep Yadav, arguably a greater wicket-taking threat.

Washington was largely picked, it seems, to bolster the lower-order batting after collapses of 7-41 and 6-31 proved costly in Leeds.

The all-rounder certainly chipped in with the bat, contributing 42 in a stand of 144 with the masterful Gill for the seventh wicket before he was bowled by a beauty from Root as India added 376 for their last five wickets, albeit only 29 for their final three as spinner Shoaib Bashir (3-167) mopped up the tail.

Bashir wheeled away through 45 overs, altering his flight and line having been offered next to nothing by the pitch, with his undoubted highlight coming on day one when he dramatically dropped his pace to have Rishabh Pant pouched in the deep.

England under the pump with ball and then bat

Thursday was a day of toil for England’s bowlers with Stokes even turning to Brook’s part-time medium pace for five overs as he looked to force batter error on this listless surface.

Gill struck Brook’s second, third and fourth balls for four – a cut opening that sequence before two gorgeous straight drives followed – and he looked set to become the third India batter to score a Test triple ton before he hauled Tongue to square leg after tea.

The great Virender Sehwag, who made 319 against South Africa in 2008 and 309 versus Pakistan four years earlier, plus Gill’s current team-mate Karun Nair, who plundered 303 not out against England in Chennai in 2016, remain the only Indians to achieve the feat.

Once Gill was dismissed by Tongue and Bashir removed Deep (6) and Siraj (8), there was then that clatter of England wickets before Brook – who came out on the right side of an India lbw review due to umpire’s call and smoked three fours and a six – and Root stopped the rot, albeit with some nervy moments.

But after those aforementioned batting collapses and a raft of dropped catches heavily contributed to India losing a first Test at Headingley they should have won, they are now in a great position to push for 1-1 in Birmingham, thanks chiefly to their captain.

Watch day three of the second Test between England and India live on Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event from 10.15am Friday (11am first ball) or stream without a contract.

India dominate day two in Birmingham

India captain Shubman Gill, speaking to Sky Sports:

“I worked on a few things before the series that I thought might be important for me going into Test cricket. Looking at the results, they are working for me.

“This game was all about confidence. We spoke about if we scored 400 again, batting first or batting second, we would be right in the game.”

Sky Sports Cricket’s Dinesh Karthik:

“If India had to think about what a day should look like – or after two days what a scorecard should look like – then here we have it. They scored 587, took three wickets pretty quickly and put the pressure on the two best batters in the world.

“They’ve done it all but there’s a lot of work to do.”