Shubman Gill spent the best part of Friday morning on cruise control, guiding India to 419 for 6 by lunch and pulling up his own Test-best 168 not out in the process. The right-hander’s calm progress, stitched together with Ravindra Jadeja’s 89, delivered a 203-run sixth-wicket stand that left England scratching around for answers until Josh Tongue finally prised Jadeja out.
“Gill looked in a different league,” former quick Varun Aaron said on television. “It was a statement knock from the India captain.” Few inside a sparsely populated Edgbaston would argue.
Gill and Jadeja had resumed on 99 together and ticked off the three-figure partnership with the first ball of the day, Gill working Ben Stokes through square-leg. One loose stroke – an outside edge off Chris Woakes that skimmed past second slip – aside, the 24-year-old barely put a foot wrong. His tempo, marginally higher than on day one, was still unhurried; the bat came down straight, the gaps kept opening.
Jadeja, all twinkling feet and trademark sword-swish celebration, posted yet another fifty against England – his ninth – and kept the fielders honest on both sides of the wicket. The all-rounder’s habit of wandering down the pitch after playing, or sometimes not playing, the ball wound up Stokes and Woakes. Umpires Sharfuddoula and Chris Gaffaney asked both players – politely enough – to steer clear of the protected area. Neither looked thrilled.
A pair of lofted sixes off Shoaib Bashir hauled India beyond 400 and pushed the partnership over 200. England finally tossed the ball to Tongue after 85 rather fruitless minutes, and the Worcestershire quick delivered: an 85mph short ball reared, kissed Jadeja’s glove and lobbed to Jamie Smith. “I was just happy to get something going,” Tongue told the BBC. “The pitch is pretty true, you’ve got to bash it.”
Tongue then served up a hostile burst at Washington Sundar, but India’s advantage was already banked. Gill, all poise and patience, marched to lunch flanked by the lower order, still with time to eye a maiden double ton.
Score at lunch: India 419-6 (Gill 168, Sundar 3) v England.
