England’s top order buckled under the weight of Shubman Gill’s record-breaking double century as India took a vice-like grip on the second Rothesay Test.
Gill scored an imperious 269 on day two at Edgbaston, besting Sunil Gavaskar’s claim to the highest ever score by an Indian batter on English soil and Virat Kohli’s mark for the biggest knock by an India captain, as his side posted 587.
That was the most England have conceded since the start of the ‘Bazball’ era three years ago and, after 151 sapping overs in the field, they were ripe for the picking in the evening session.
With attack leader Jasprit Bumrah rested, his replacement Akash Deep stepped up to dismiss first Test centurions Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope for ducks with consecutive deliveries. Zak Crawley followed when he edged Mohammed Siraj behind, leaving England’s in-form top three back in the pavilion inside eight overs.
It could have been even worse as Harry Brook made a reckless start but he and Joe Root survived until stumps to reach 77 for three. Brook had a final scare off the penultimate ball of a difficult day, threatening to drag Prasidh Krishna into his stumps and only surviving by intercepting the ball with his shoulder.
The first two sessions were torrid for England, costing 254 runs in exchange for a pair of consolation wickets. For the most part, they watched Gill march relentlessly towards his eight-and-a-half-hour epic.
He led stands of 203 with Ravindra Jadeja and 144 alongside Washington Sundar, grinding his opponents down in a studious stay containing 30 fours, three sixes and barely any false shots.
With 114 runs already under his belt he saw off the new-ball burst from Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes then set about batting the hosts into trouble. Gill waited until Brydon Carse’s arrival as first change to step up a gear, driving hard when he strayed too full and pulling methodically between two boundary riders when the Durham quick went short.
Shoaib Bashir did his best to tie up an end but just two maidens in 45 overs suggest he was never able to fully apply the brakes. Josh Tongue was the last of the frontline bowlers to be used but the first to strike, hurrying Jadeja with an extra hint of zip and bounce to have him caught off the glove for 89 just before lunch.
India shrugged off the loss, Gill strengthening his dominance as a further 145 runs rained down in the afternoon that weighed heavily on the English fielders. Amid a handful of warning signs, a five-over spell of inelegant medium pace from Brook spoke loudest.
Gill stood above it all, reaching 200 in 311 balls then taking just 37 more to reach 250. Root looked stony faced despite bowling Sundar with an unexpectedly brisk turner, a reflection of the wider English mood, but there was a release of frustration when Gill rolled his wrists on Tongue and stroked the gentlest of catches to square-leg.
The last two wickets were gifted to Bashir, a reward for his long shift at the coalface, but both Deep and Siraj had more important work to do.
Twelve runs off the first over of the reply represented a false start, with Deep blowing the game open in the third. Duckett poked uncertainly outside off and was brilliantly held at third slip, where Gill’s untouchable day continued.
Deep made it a double when he snapped up Pope for a first-baller, snaring the edge with a fast, full delivery that briefly bobbled out of KL Rahul’s hands before he brought it back under control.
Having scored 325 between them in the first Test, both Duckett and Pope had failed to add to the tally.
The sense of disarray continued when Crawley played waywardly at a Siraj ball he might have left alone and picked out Karun Nair in the cordon. Brook was beaten by his first two balls, survived a tight appeal for lbw on one and played some hair-raising strokes as he looked to assert himself on a precarious situation.
He and Root put on 52 by the close, offering some hope that there were still big runs to be had on a flat pitch.
PA
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