Skipper Rohit Sharma (103) and Shubman Gill (110) smash centuries as hosts ride on strong top-order batting display to post their highest total of the series on Day 2 at 473 for 8 to lead by 255 runs
India skipper Rohit Sharma after reaching his century against England yesterday; (right) Shubman Gill celebrates his ton. Pics/PTI, AFP
India have had their moments with the bat this series, but clearly, they had saved the best for last. Having topped 400 thrice in the first four Tests, they rode on the strength of their top order to post their highest total on Day Two of the final Test, leaving England with a mountain to climb at the HPCA Stadium.
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Skipper Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill headlined the muscular display with their respective second centuries, while debutant Devdutt Padikkal and Sarfaraz Khan weighed in with pleasing half-tons. Allied with Yashasvi Jaiswal’s power-packed 57 of the previous evening, it marked the first time that India’s top five had all made at least a half-century in an innings against England. The net result was that the home side, 135-1 overnight replying to England’s sub-par 218, ended Friday on 473-8, ahead by 255 and primed to translate their 3-1 lead into a 4-1 whipping.
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Poor fielding
Much will depend over the next couple of days on whether the English still possess stomach for battle, because this deck is still playing well, evidenced by an unseparated ninth-wicket alliance of 45 between Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah. Ben Stokes’s side endured a poor day on the park. There were misfields galore and Stokes himself put a catch down in the day’s penultimate over, indications perhaps that England already have one foot on the flight back home at the end of a long, unforgiving tour.
Their best bet of trying to salvage something from this game was to strike early when Rohit and Gill sought to kick on. However, they were immediately rocked by the ferocity with which the two right-handers came at them. Rohit smashed Shoaib Bashir for a straight six and followed it up with a four in the day’s third over; in the next, Gill danced down the track and blasted James Anderson over his head and into the sightscreen. The gauntlet had been laid down, England were powerless to pick it up.
Rohit, Gill put on 171
Runs came at a rapid clip, Gill the more enterprising though he also had more of the strike. There are few more pleasing sights in world cricket than when these two get going, and a mid-sized crowd was treated to a gorgeous exhibition of shot-making. Rohit first, and then Gill, brought up their hundreds before lunch and had put on 171 when, with his first ball in Test cricket since July, Stokes produced a beauty that shaped away and hit the Indian captain’s off-stump.
One usually brings two, and it was no surprise that Anderson produced a break-back seven deliveries later to breach Gill’s defences. Padikkal, elegant, and Sarfaraz, ebullient, steadied the ship with an entertaining stand of 97 and even though India suffered a late wobble, they were always in control.
Young offie Bashir stuck to his guns to finish with four for 170, including three for 59 in a marathon 21-over final spell.
Brief scores
England 218 all out v India 473-8 (S Gill 110, R Sharma 103, D Padikkal 65, S Khan 56; S Bashir 4-170, T Hartley 2-126)
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