Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj struck thrice with the new ball as India tightened their grip on the second Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series at Edgbaston, leaving England at 72/3 at stumps on the fourth day on Saturday.
England have been set a daunting target of 608 after India declared their second innings at 427/6, with skipper Shubman Gill leading from the front with a majestic 161, following his masterly 269 in the first innings. He was well supported by K.L. Rahul, Rishabh Pant, and Ravindra Jadeja, who hit half-centuries each.
Continuing their new-ball onslaught from England’s first innings, Akash and Siraj again dismantled the top order. With Harry Brook and Ollie Pope unbeaten on 15 and 24 respectively, England still need 536 runs to win on Day Five, while India require seven wickets to secure what would be a memorable series-levelling victory — provided rain stays away.
Ben Duckett began England’s chase positively, slicing and flicking Siraj for boundaries, but the bowler struck back by tempting Zak Crawley into a drive that flew straight to backward point, where substitute fielder B. Sai Sudharsan took a sharp catch to dismiss him for a seven-ball duck.
After India burnt a review on Duckett for a caught-behind appeal, the opener hit a flurry of boundaries before inside-edging Akash onto his stumps for 25. Akash then produced a beauty to dismiss Joe Root for six, angling the ball from wide of the crease and nipping it past the bat to hit the top of off-stump. Pope and Brook managed to steady the innings slightly, hitting a couple of boundaries each before stumps brought an end to another dominant day for India.
Earlier, Gill once again showcased his elegant strokeplay, hitting 13 fours and eight sixes for his eighth Test hundred — his fifth against England and his third in just four innings as India’s Test captain. With an aggregate of 430 runs, Gill is now the second-highest run-scorer in a single Test match after England’s Graham Gooch (456) and the first player ever to score both a double century and a 150-plus in the same Test.
The final session began with Jadeja signalling a change in gears by smashing Shoaib Bashir for a straight six off the very first ball he faced. Gill continued his onslaught, hammering Chris Woakes for a six and two fours, before he and Jadeja took a boundary each off Bashir. Jadeja then cut Root for four through backward point to bring up his second half-century of the match off 94 balls.
After Jadeja swept Root for four, Gill slog-swept the same bowler for back-to-back sixes, then cleared mid-off for another boundary. Gill reached 150 with a perfectly executed slog-sweep off Root before Pope lost sight of a top-edge, giving Gill yet another four.
Gill then swung Bashir over midwicket for six, but his attempt at another maximum resulted in a mistimed shot back to the bowler, who completed the catch. Gill departed to a standing ovation for his superb 161. After Nitish Kumar Reddy holed out to long-off against Root, Washington Sundar struck the part-timer for a four and a six before Gill declared the innings, giving his bowlers another crack at a tiring England batting line-up. Akash and Siraj made full use of the new ball, once again out-bowling their English counterparts.
Brief scores:
India 587 & 427/6 decl. in 83 overs (Shubman Gill 161, Rishabh Pant 65, KL Rahul 55, Ravindra Jadeja 69*; Josh Tongue 2-93, Shoaib Bashir 2-119) lead England 407 & 72/3 in 16 overs (Ben Duckett 25, Harry Brook 24*; Akash Deep 2-36, Mohammed Siraj 1-29) by 536 runs.
IANS
