Birmingham, July 2 (IANS) Shubman Gill was at his determined best to hit a hard-fought seventh Test hundred – his second as India’s captain – as the visitors reached 310/5 in 85 overs at stumps on Day One of the second Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series against England at Edgbaston on Wednesday.

Under sunny blue skies, England pushed India into batting first, with the visitors earning flak for resting Jasprit Bumrah, as well as packing themselves with three all-rounders and not including another genuine wicket-taker in Kuldeep Yadav. But Gill, coming after making 147 in Headingley, showed immense responsibility as well as patience and played like someone extremely determined to grind it out to be unbeaten on 114 off 216 deliveries, laced with 12 boundaries.

During his unbeaten knock, which is his fourth Test hundred against England, Gill has become just the second Indian captain after Mohammad Azharuddin to score hundreds in consecutive Tests in England.

He is also the third Indian captain with hundreds in consecutive Tests against England, after Azharuddin (Lord’s and Old Trafford in 1990) and Vijay Hazare (Delhi and Brabourne in 1951/52). After Yashasvi Jaiswal hit an enterprising 87, Gill and Ravindra Jadeja, who ended the day on 41 not out, shared an unbroken 99-run stand for the sixth wicket and helped India recover well from 211/5.

For England, local lad Chris Woakes was the standout bowler with two wickets and could easily have had at least a couple more if he was on the right side of DRS. Brydon Carse, Ben Stokes, and Shoaib Bashir all claimed one apiece.

In the morning, Woakes was rewarded for his perseverance with the new ball when KL Rahul chopped on to his stumps for just two. He could have got both Jaiswal and Karun Nair, coming in at No.3 in place of an omitted B. Sai Sudharsan, lbw if the umpire’s call hadn’t been in place.

Nair displayed pristine timing on his drives, as well as in flicking Ben Stokes through the gap between mid-on and mid-wicket. With Josh Tongue being wayward, it allowed Jaiswal to free his arms for driving and cutting with panache, resulting in three boundaries coming in the 16th over and the same happening in the 22nd over, with a hook and slash taking Jaiswal to his 11th Test fifty.

It was a knock where, despite not much movement, Jaiswal went through the rigours of a tough examination, including being 16 off 34 balls at one point, and passed with flying colours. Carse then returned to catch the shoulder edge of Nair’s bat, and the outside edge was caught by second slip, bringing an 80-run stand for the second wicket to an end at the stroke of lunch.

Post lunch, it was a session where old-fashioned attritional cricket took centre stage, as India made 84 runs in 28 overs. Though Jaiswal fell 13 runs short of his sixth Test hundred, Gill continued to hold fort.

At the start, Gill and Jaiswal picked up singles whenever an opportunity came. While Jaiswal got a boundary by slicing over the slips, Gill got his boundaries off edges through gully twice, while being severely tested on playing around his front pad.

Woakes continues to test Gill around the middle stump line in the hope of getting him playing across his front pad. But the Indian skipper, batting outside the crease, handled it well with his sturdy and tight forward defence. With Tongue and Bashir coming in, Jaiswal and Gill got a four each as they brought up the fifty of their partnership.

But Stokes once again pulled a rabbit out of a hat to get England a vital breakthrough, as Jaiswal tried to cut one away outside off and got a thin edge behind to keeper Jamie Smith, with the England skipper ecstatic in his celebration.

While Gill continued to be happy in getting singles on both sides of the wicket, Rishabh Pant took his time and respected some good bowling coming his way before dancing down the pitch to smack a half-volley from Bashir over long-on for six. The duo knocked off singles in the last two overs before the tea break arrived.

The final session began sedately, before a ball change was made due to it being stuck in the gauge. Gill then used his feet nicely to take a four each off Woakes and Bashir – the second of which got him his fifty in 125 balls.

But Bashir struck in the 61st over when he teased Pant, who previously lapped him for four, into playing a big shot on a slower, flighted delivery, and the wicketkeeper-batter fell into the trap by holing out to long-on for 25. One brought two for England as Nitish Kumar Reddy left an outside off-stump delivery from Chris Woakes, but the ball jagged back in to knock over the off-stump.

After two quick breakthroughs, England brought back Brydon Carse, but a solid Gill drove him crisply through extra cover and point for a brace of fours. Gill and Jadeja took a boundary each off Stokes, who tried to unsettle the duo with a barrage of bouncers. But it didn’t pay off as the duo brought up a half-century of their partnership for the sixth wicket.

While Jadeja took boundaries off Bashir and Tongue, Gill cut off the pacer for four, before sweeping on consecutive deliveries off Joe Root to bring up his seventh Test hundred off 199 deliveries, with a trademark roar and gentle bow. After the second new ball was taken, Gill and Jadeja got a boundary each before a solid day of Test cricket came to an end.

Brief scores:

India 310/5 in 85 overs (Shubman Gill 114 not out, Yashasvi Jaiswal 87; Chris Woakes 2-59, Brydon Carse 1-49) against England

–IANS

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