Live action continued on the second day of the Edgbaston Test as India posted a mammoth 587 before the English bowlers bundled them out. The star that shined the brightest was India skipper Shubman Gill. The batter smashed a swashbuckling knock of 269 off just 387 balls and made sure his side managed to post a positive total on the board despite a topsy-turvy start to the innings.
Ravindra Jadeja, who was unbeaten on 41 at the end of Day 1, added another 48 runs to his tally. but missed out by yet another century at the venue by just 11 runs. Jadeja’s 89 off 137 balls came during his magnificent 203-run partnership with Gill, where the duo took the scoreboard past 400 with ease. Despite Jadeja’s departure, Gill continued to dominate, with Washington Sundar (42) also contributing a decent total with the bat.
When it came to having a go at the English batters, the biggest fear for the Indian pace attack was the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, who was rested for this Test citing workload management concerns. However, India brought in young and fresh Akash Deep to replace the Ahmedabad-born, with Mohammed Siraj leading the pace battery as the senior-most inclusion in the line-up alongside Prasidh Krishna and Nitish Kumar Reddy.
Akash Deep did not disappoint at all, and proved his worth by striking twice in two balls during the third over of the match. These two deliveries saw the outgoing of Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope, both of whom departed for a duck. A few overs later, Zak Crawley too crawled back to the pavilion after edging an outswinger by Siraj, as Karun Nair completed a sharp catch at first slip. With 25-3, England looked to break India’s momentum with the help of Joe Root and Harry Brook.
Brook (30 off 53) played some audacious shots in what has been an entertaining knock so far, while Root (18 off 37) played the cautious way, saving his prized wicket. The duo will now look to extend the partnership as they still trail by 510 runs after the call of Stumps by the umpires on the second day. The following day will decide the fate of the match, as India have a chance to gain a massive lead, whereas the Bazball approach can really make a mockery of the Indian total or at least narrow it down to bare minimum, so an interesting day is coming up.
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