Rahul, Gill lead Indian fightback after England dominate
The mettle of a good team is seen in how they respond in such situations – throw in the towel or make a statement by fighting till the last ball is bowled.
There were alarm bells when India again turned out flat in the field to play a poor opening session on Saturday. Captain Ben Stokes moved fluently to his 14th Test hundred and then added quick runs to ensure a monumental 311-run lead for his team with one-and-a-half days to go.
Being kept on the field for 157 overs, it can take a toll mentally and physically. India's worst fears came true in the 15 minutes they had to negotiate before lunch on Day 4. In the very first over, Chris Woakes struck a double blow. The swing bowler produced a beauty to induce an edge off Yashasvi Jaiswal to be caught in the slip. Next ball, Sai Sudharsan was out for a golden duck, hanging out his bat to also be caught in the cordon.
With his team tottering at 0/2, Shubman Gill walked in to bat in the first over itself. It was a real test of nerves for the young captain. There was extra pressure that he had not got runs in the previous three innings. His captaincy in the field had also come under the scanner after allowing England to amass 669, their highest total at Old Trafford.
To his credit, Gill chose the occasion to make a strong statement by stroking a delightful half century. Considering what had happened in the first session, it was an important effort to calm his dressing room.
It was proof he has the steel to handle the tough situation and the skill to negotiate English conditions.
In a superb partnership with the dependable KL Rahul, he put behind the horror start to play through the next two sessions. From two wickets for one run at lunch, India had advanced to 174/2 in 63 overs at stumps.
Rahul was batting on 87 (210 balls, 8 fours) and Gill was 78 not out (167 balls, 10 fours). It is the highest partnership for a stand that started at 0/2.
It is still a long way to go but thanks to the resilient third wicket pair, the lead is now down to 137 and the visitors' dressing room would have started to harbour thoughts of a draw.
England were left to rue the chance they gave to Gill on 46 when Liam Dawson failed to hold on to a catch at gully off Brydon Carse. Gill put it behind to complete his fifty off 83 balls. During the innings he went past Virat Kohli's 655 runs against England in 2016. He is on 694 runs now. Rahul has crossed 500 runs for a series for the first time.
Gill had shouldered arms in the first innings to be leg before to Stokes. With Stokes deciding not to bowl, Chris Woakes, Jofra Archer and Carse kept probing that chink against the incoming ball. Gill though was equal to the task with decisive footwork.
He was hit on his thumb by a rising ball from Archer but put the painful blow behind and hit some beautifully timed boundaries. Against Woakes, there were two rasping square cuts and a sublime off-drive, before treating the crowd to back-to-back classical straight drives off Carse on either side of the stumps.
A model of concentration, Rahul did his usual thing, played late and showed good judgement of his off-stump to leave the balls well.
The pitch was showing signs of wear and tear and Stokes introduced spin early. Dawson's first over was played out cautiously, but Gill continued the counter-attack against the pacers to collect two more boundaries off Archer.
With Dawson bowling a tight line in his second spell of 12-4-15-0, the two batters were watchful after tea. While Rahul took 141 balls to reach his fifty, with just three fours, he outscored Gill in the final session.
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