Gill’s classy ton, Jaiswal’s grit set up India’s dominance

Birmingham: Shubman Gill batted with plenty of patience and resolve to complete his second successive hundred but India squandered the early advantage against England to settle for 310 for five at stumps on a shared day one of the second Test here on Wednesday.

India adopted a measured approach with the bat after picking three all-rounders in the playing eleven at the cost of specialist bowling resources, raising plenty of questions.

Like Leeds, the Edgbaston surface is offering plenty of runs and with no Jasprit Bumrah in the attack, India would need to put up a total in excess of 500 to make a match of it. Shortly before close of play, Gill (batting 114 off 216 ) got to his seventh Test hundred with successive sweep shots off Shoaib Bashir, his celebration indicating how much it meant to him as a new leader of the side. Ravindra Jadeja (41 batting off 67) was solid at the other end having forged an unbroken 99 run stand with his captain.

England were able to stem the flow of runs through the day with Gill and Co happy to bat time. The slower nature of the pitch here compared to Leeds may have been a factor behind that cautious approach. Rishabh Pant (25 off 42) and batting all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy (1), who was picked ahead of Shardul Thakur, were the two wickets to fall in the final session.

Pant perished to a well thought plan by Ben Stokes, who kept a wide long-on instead of a deep midwicket. The southpaw took the bait and targeted the straight boundary but could not clear the ropes to give Shoaib Bashir his first wicket. Reddy, on the other hand, cut a sorry figure after leaving a length ball from Chris Woakes that seamed back in to uproot his off-stump.

On the other hand, the Indian captain was discreet in playing attacking shots in his watchful knock. He stepped out against Bashir to find the odd boundary while unleashing his drives and pull against the fast bowlers.

In the afternoon session, England skipper Ben Stokes, who has a knack of picking up wickets out of nowhere, had Jaiswal (87 off 107) caught behind off a short and wide delivery. Jaiswal perhaps went too hard at the ball only to offer a simple catch to Jamie Smith, leaving India at 182 for three at tea. With not much happening in the session, the English fans in the iconic Eric Hollies Stand sporadically made plenty of noise to push the home team. India added 84 runs in 28 overs in the session for the loss of Jaiswal.

In the 34th over, Gill survived a DRS lbw call off a Brydon Carse nip backer due to an inside edge. Pant joined him late in the session and took his time to settle down before using his feet against Bashir for a six.

In the morning, Jaiswal maintained his aggression despite being tested by the England pacers while Karun Nair (31 off 50) showed promise at number three before being dismissed. Considering the overhead conditions, Stokes opted to bowl but Jaiswal and Nair did well to survive the tough period. In the first hour, KL Rahul (2 off 26), played on to the stumps off a Chris Woakes delivery before Jaiswal-Nair duo added 80 for the second wicket. (PTI)