IND vs ENG 2nd Test, Day One, Edgbaston: With grit and wit, captain Shubman Gill keeps India's ship afloat through rough seas

Indian Express

4 days ago

A bit harsh on himself, Indian captain Shubman Gill had said he should have batted 'more responsibly' and scored 50 more runs in the first Test at Headingley that India lost. Not to forget that he had made 147. On Day 1 of the second Test, Gill walked the talk.
His unbeaten of 114 from 216 balls was worthy of being called a true captain's knock. Having taken several unpopular selection calls, India captain couldn't afford to get out cheaply. His inning was a tutorial in the art of countering a clever opposition that constantly challenged the batsmen. He did what other batsmen couldn't—see through the boobytraps and smokescreens that Ben Stokes put in place.
KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Karun Nair and Rishabh Pant fell to set plans. Shubman and his 99-runs partnership with Ravindra Jadeja (41) helped India see through the day to be at 310/5, a score that comes with a promise. In case the much-maligned, but altered, lower order bats well, India's team management wouldn't have to answer that vexed question – Why Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav were not played here?
Skillful. Splendid. Skipper #ShubmanGill!
The captain scored a delightful century to give #TeamIndia the upper hand at the end of Day 1!
Will he continue with the same momentum on Day 2?#ENGvIND 👉 2nd Test, Day 2 | THU, 3rd JULY, 2:30 PM | Streaming on JioHotstar! pic.twitter.com/LvLYJ6Safa
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) July 2, 2025
The final session of the day was like two captains matching wits—the outdoor team sport looked like an individual mental duel. Stokes attacked, Shubman defended, and also attacked. They packed the off-side to tempt the Indian captain to drive but he either defended on the front foot or drove through the gap. The way he passed hundred had the same theme.
Joe Root crowded the leg-side and tossed up his leg-spinner. Shubman would still find the gap with a paddle sweep. He would let out a cry, punch his fist and finally do his trademark graceful bow – that last gesture bringing him back to the tranquil self after briefly letting off the steam.
Others were not that composed. Stokes clearly had tailored plans for every Indian batsman and they mostly worked. At the start of the innings, new-ball bowler Chris Woakes had a leg-slip for KL Rahul and kept targeting him with full-length nip-backers. At the stumps, making him play. In the first Test, there were quite a few outside-off balls that Rahul kept leaving comfortably. Not here. Rahul would stand there, mimicking the release and inward direction of the ball. He can put out a big stride forward, but this line for some reason was preventing him from doing that. The indecisiveness cost him dearly. As expected it was a nip-backer, with Woakes adding extra bounce to it. Rahul did manage to ride over it but it was too steep for him to keep it away from stumps.
For Jaiswal, Stokes had an alternate plan. For him it was the outside-off tempter. Jaiswal played and missed a few times – be it attempted cuts or expansive drives. He connected with a couple, creaming it through the off, but it was a line that kept him on his toes.
4️⃣ 4️⃣ 4️⃣ – That's how you bring up a fifty! 💪@ybj_19 continues his love affair with #ENG, his 7th 50+ score in just 12 innings against them!
Will he convert this into another hundred?✍🏻👇#ENGvIND 👉 2nd TEST, Day 1 | LIVE NOW on JioHotstar ➡ https://t.co/g6BryBp5Tw pic.twitter.com/uRk4ZWyZFr
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) July 2, 2025
Post lunch, India batsmen put on a show that whipped up memories of Day 1 from Headingley. They were sparklingly entertaining. Jaiswal and Karun Nair were on a driving spree. England bowlers tried to induce a false stroke but failed. Nair, though, had a couple of iffy leaves that almost got him out. After he had straight driven an over-pitched Woakes ball down the ground for a glorious boundary, Nair had a close shave.
The ball that got him in trouble was the one pitched on good length. Nair thought the ball was not in the line of the stumps, so he let go. The nip-backer hit Nair on the pad. Luckily DRS saved him, if the bounce was slightly low he would have been out.
Woakes was frustrated, for the second time DRS had gone against him. On both occasions, the ball was slightly higher. Making a course correction, the English bowlers pitched slightly up but Nair drove them through cover, long-off, long on and even square leg. Close to lunch, Stokes would get Carse and he would be asked to make the ball rise from good length. Carse would come up with a ball that not many batsmen could have fended. Nair did try, he took a hand off the bat, tried to play it down but he looped to the slips.
Jaiswal was unperturbed by the mishaps. He punched the full balls to the fence and the ones on good length were slapped on the up to the off-side. The short ones would either guide between the gaps in the slip cordon, pull out of the boundary or were treated with the tennis forehand like swat.
Jaiswal, like in the first innings at Headingley, seemed in a space where another hundred seemed inevitable. Stokes kept thinking, his brain ticking. Relentlessly running hard, he bowled in the channel outside off. He kept the ball short, had a third man for protection but kept the square boundary on the off-side unguarded by bringing the point close. Stokes wanted Jaiswal to cut since his driving was virtually flawless. The plan worked, Jaiswal's fast bat speed to a slowish delivery resulted in him edging the ball to wicket-keeper. It looked like a nothing ball but it wasn't.
The England plan of the day was the one that got Pant. The tall offie Shoaib Basheer was the enforcer. Stokes field placement for Pant was a mid-on and a deep mid-wicket faintly straight. This field gave ideas to batsmen like Pant. There was no one to catch if he lifted the ball straight to the sight screen.
Ben Stokes knew that Jaiswal's wicket was massive 💥 #SonySportsNetwork #GroundTumharaJeetHamari #ENGvIND #NayaIndia #DhaakadIndia #TeamIndia #ExtraaaInnings pic.twitter.com/1dAkBtCE94
— Sony Sports Network (@SonySportsNetwk) July 2, 2025
Basheer would flight the ball to the left-hander's middle-leg, inviting him to hit. The world knows Pant doesn't mind attacking spinners. Soon he did – pulling off the tough shot by timing it sweetly, making it look effortless. Stokes continued with the same field and the same plan. Basheer kept flighting the ball. Few balls later, he tossed one a bit higher, reduced the pace but landed it on exactly the same spot where Pant had hit him for a six earlier. Pant's timing failed this time and Zak Crawley moved from deep mid-wicket and ran sideways to hold the catch. England celebrated, they knew the importance of the wicket.
At the toss Stokes was sought for his comments about the first Test win being called an example of Bazball with brains. 'Brains and me and Baz are not three things you put together,' he replied. Underplaying himself, playing the fool, is another smart trait of this quintessential Bazballer.