Cricket: Shubman Gill steers India to safety at stumps on Day 1 of second Test against England
Gill posts seventh Test century in first innings at Edgbaston
India will head into Day 2 of their second Test against England full of positivity, thanks to a masterful knock by their skipper, Shubman Gill, who saw the side to 310 for the loss of five wickets after 85 overs on the first day at Edgbaston.
Gill stepped out to the centre with his side at 95/2 after KL Rahul was dismissed by Chris Woakes for just two runs and Karun Nair departed for 31 off 51, caught by Harry Brook off the bowling of Brydon Carse. Notably, India are now marginal favourites to win the match, according to most of the best online betting sites.
After succeeding Rohit Sharma as captain of the Indian Test team, Gill notched up 147 runs in the first match of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy in Leeds last week. His knock in the second match sees him become the youngest Asian captain in history to score two or more centuries in England.
The only cricketer younger than Gill to have achieved this feat was former South African captain Graeme Smith, who scored an incredible double-century against the Three Lions back in 2003, while Javed Burki of Pakistan is the only Asian captain to score a ton in this part of the world.
Gill is now just the third Indian captain (any age) to post 2+ centuries in England, following in the footsteps of Mohammad Azharuddin and Virat Kohli. He is also the second skipper of the Men in Blue to record back-to-back 100s after Azharuddin in 1990.
Finally, the 25-year-old has now reached triple digits in each of his last three matches against Ben Stokes’ side in the longest format, having done so when the sides met in Dharamshala in March last year.
Bumrah rested despite week’s break between matches
Ahead of the first Test, Jasprit Bumrah revealed that he is aiming to play three of the five matches in this series, owing to his workload management following a back injury sustained during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the start of the year.
The world’s top-ranked fast bowler made a significant impact in Leeds, taking five wickets in the first innings, and while he finished wicketless in the second innings, he still recorded the lowest economy rate of the five bowlers used (3.00).
Despite that, the Three Lions still romped to victory on the final day, which left many feeling that Bumrah’s inclusion for this match would be crucial. However, the 31-year-old was left out of the squad, with Akash Deep brought in as his replacement, while Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar also got the nod.
