India completely dominated the Day 4 of the second Test against England as they find themselves in a commanding position in the game. Captain Shubman Gill made the most of the good batting conditions as he continued from where he left off in the first innings and etched his name in the history books breaking multiple records. To cap it off, Indian bowlers managed to get early inroads into the England batting lineup to set up a perfect Day 5 of the match.
India began the day on 64/1, leading by 244 runs in the second innings with KL Rahul (28*) and Karun Nair (7*) at the crease. The duo faced an incredible bowling spell in the first hour against Josh Tongue and Brydon Carse, who managed to get early strikes in the day. While Carse made Nair edge one to the wicketkeeper Jamie Smith on 26, Rahul got cleaned up by Tongue on 55.
ENG vs IND 2nd Test Day 4 Updates
Their dismissals brought captain Gill to the crease, who was fresh from his scintillating 269 in the first innings. The India skipper oozed calmness as he walked out to bat and joined a flamboyant Rishabh Pant at the crease, who was again hell-bent on redefining Test batting.
He charged down the track on the very first ball against Tongue and whacked the England seamer for a boundary on his third ball and followed by a maximum. Pant even got a reprieve on his eighth ball as Zak Crawley dropped a straightforward chance at mid-off.
Pant-Gill bring India into driver’s seat
The India wicketkeeper made England regret their chance as he took on Pant and Bashir to quickly move to 30 (18). At the other end, Gill also shifted his gears as he found some boundaries and India went into lunch on 177/3 with a lead of 357 runs.
In the second session, both Pant and Gill walked out with an aggressive intent and quickly took India’s lead past 400. Despite a slow start Gill brought up his fifty off 57 balls while Pant took 48 balls to reach the milestone. The duo added 110 runs for the fourth wicket off just 103 balls. Pant got holed out on 65 (58) at long off as he lost his bat while going down the track against Shoaib Bashir.
After Pant’s departure, captain Gill took the onus upon himself to take the team to a safe score.He got his head down and batted responsibly getting involved in another crucial stand with Ravindra Jadeja. The India captain went on to score another hundred, entering an elite club of players with a double century and a century in the same innings.
Akash Deep runs through England’s top order
After tea, it looked like India would declare as the lead surpassed the 500-run mark. However, captain Gill and head coach Gautam Gambhir continued to play it safe, taking England’s chasing record in the recent past into consideration. The delay allowed captain Gill to make the most of the good batting conditions as he continued to pile on runs and became the first batter in the history of the game to score a double hundred and 150 in the same Test.
He was finally dismissed on 161 by Bashir, who caught him off his own bowling. India made the declaration after their lead surpassed the 600-run mark and set England a massive target of 608 runs. As England walked out to chase the massive score, Ben Duckett started in his usual fashion hitting consecutive boundaries against Mohammed Siraj.
However, the India seamer came back strongly as he got Zak Crawley caught at backward point for a seven-ball duck. Despite losing his opening partner, Duckett continued to attack, Siraj before being outfoxed by Akash Deep, who dismantled his stumps. The right arm-seamer further got the prized scalp of Joe Root for 6 with a peach of a delivery to leave England in all sorts of trouble.
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